Tyrannical Congress

[joeydb]

Congress is setting a dangerous precedent, which flies in the face of the Constitution itself, that a corporation -- or an individual for that matter -- can be targeted for extreme taxation upwards of 90%. That is a control tactic, and one that previously was unthinkable. The government can arrest people for criminal infractions, can sue civilly in court: "United States of America vs. John Q. Public" at the Federal level, etc. All this is done through use of the judicial branch, possibly extending from the executive branch with the involvement of the Justice Department. But the legislative branch never does this. Congress does set tax policy, but such policy is formulated to affect all citizens. We are not naïve; we know exceptions are made for groups having the favor of Congress, but they can't write the tax code favoring or punishing parties by name, "General Electric's tax rate is 90%, but Westinghouse only has to pay 10%."

This kind of singling out for punishment is called a "bill of attainder" and is explicitly prohibited by the Constitution, as is "ex post facto" laws which I'm sure you guys already know about. Article I, section 9 states, without ambiguity: "No bill of attainder or ex post facto law shall be passed." Period.

The AIG matter should have been handled properly in the construction of the legislation itself, not by trying a heavy handed and unconstitutional move after the fact.