Don't Tax Me, Don't Tax Thee...

...tax the man behind the tree. And then tax the tree, or the streetlight as they're doing in the nation's captial, as reported by MSNBC.com:

Washington’s mayor, Adrian M. Fenty, has proposed a “streetlight user fee” of $4.25 a month, to be added to electric bills, that would cover the cost of operating and maintaining the city’s streetlights. New York City recently expanded its anti-idling law to include anyone parked near a school who leaves the engine running for more than a minute. Doing that will cost you $100.

“The most dangerous places on Staten Island are the schools at drop-off and dismissal time, when parents are parked three deep in the road,” says James S. Oddo, a City Council member from Staten Island who voted for the measure. “There is a mentality here that Johnny can’t walk 100 feet, he has to be dropped off right at the front of the school — and frankly that’s why Johnny is as pudgy as he is.”

Memo to cities, towns, municipalities, states, provinces, parishes, commonwealths and anybody else that gets tax revenue: we know you're hurting for cash. Everybody is. It's called a recession. Why not cut the charade by just turning us upside down and shaking us? Whatever falls on the ground is yours.

This massive stretch for revenue reminds me of the window tax passed in England in 1695. The response: people bricked up the windows. In the musical Les Miserables, Thenardier the innkeeper sings:

"Charge 'em for the lice
Extra for the mice
Two percent for looking in the mirror twice
Here a little slice
There a little cut
Three percent for sleeping with the window shut
When it comes to fixing prices
There are a lot of tricks he knows
How it all increases
All those bits and pieces
... It's amazing how it grows!"

I'm not yet in the mood to throw a tea party -- like others are doing -- but if our Arizona pols try taxing my playing cards, you better believe I'll be lobbing some Lipton.