The 'Queen of Mean" Knew Whereof She Spoke

Leona Helmsley had it right when she said "only the little people pay taxes."

She was convicted on criminal tax evasion charges because the government succeeded in characterizing her as the "queen of mean" after she had the effrontery to voicing the above-quoted (and now demonstrably correct) observation so blatantly.

Consider that we now have:

* A secretary of the treasury who for years failed to report and pay taxes on his personal income even though he repeatedly was advised of his obligation to do so. He even was reimbursed for the taxes he didn't pay. This is the guy who is going to have oversight authority over the I.R.S. -- the agency responsible for enforcing the nation's tax laws against the "little people." This member of the President's cabinet paid up only after he realized that his conduct would be scrutinized publicly in connection with an examination of his qualifications to head the U.S. Treasury.

* A nominee to serve as secretary of Health and Human Services who, after being named to the cabinet position, finally more than $100,000 in taxes on income that was not reported or taxed in prior years . . . and it appears that this is on just a portion of the income that previously was not taxed or reported.

* A chairman of the committee of the House of Reprehensibles, which is responsible for our tax laws, who for years failed to report and pay taxes on income that he received. When this became public, he claimed that he didn't realize that he was obligated to report and pay taxes on all of his income.

Is this a great country or what?

No wonder our rulers are all for public spending . . . . They leave funding the spending to Leona's "little people." Had we "little people" not been transformed into sheep, we would tell the IRS to go f__k itself and gather around the seat of government, bearing arms as well as pitchforks and torches, and either hang or tar and feather those who hold sway there.