Reveal Your Tax Return

I think some Congressional Republicans may be letting some of this "mandate" talk get to their heads.

With potentially scary consequences. For us. As the Associated Press reports:

Congress passed legislation Saturday giving two committee chairman and their assistants access to income tax returns without regard to privacy protections, but not before red-faced Republicans said the measure was a mistake and would be swiftly repealed.

You should be shocked by this. Imagine: Republican committee chairpersons with the power to look at any tax return without any consequences.

This is just outrageous. I guess some Republicans would have liked to return us to the bad old days of using tax information against political opponents. Thankfully some Democrats noticed it late in the game.

Josh Marshall has been all over the story today. As he writes here:

This weekend Congress was working on a massive $388 billion omnibus spending bill that will cover all manner of federal spending. But at the request of Rep. Ernest Istook of Oklahoma, chairman of the House Appropriations Transportation Subcommittee, a special provision was inserted into the bill which allows the Chairmen of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees or their "agents" to review any American's tax return with no restrictions whatsoever.

It's just the hypocrisy, stupid. But we have nothing to fear from our all right-wing Republican government.

Nothing at all...