More For The "Have Mores"

The latest from John Edwards...

Dear Friend,

A mismanaged war, botched hurricane relief, illegal wiretaps, secret torture prisons, ethics violations. Just when I thought we had seen the worst from the Bush Administration, there is a new outrage that is down-right mean-spirited.

Big tax evaders -- mostly wealthy individuals and large corporations -- cost the government $300 billion each year in unpaid taxes. But in George Bush's America, these folks are getting off virtually scot-free.

The Internal Revenue Service is spending its limited enforcement resources on low-income taxpayers -- most of whom did nothing wrong. The IRS froze more than 120,000 taxpayers' refunds on suspicion of fraud without notifying the taxpayers or giving them a chance to respond. This practice must stop, and I need your help to stop it.

The targeted taxpayers had a median income of $12,000 to $14,000. Many of them claimed the Earned Income Tax Credit, and count on their tax refunds to pay for home heating costs, school books for their kids, or to open a bank account and begin to build savings. The IRS has been holding up the refunds for an average of eight months -- but some people wait for years.

We've heard a lot over the years about racial profiling. Now it seems the Bush Administration has invented "poverty profiling." It's the cruel assumption that if you are poor, you must also be a tax cheat.

Please send a letter to IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson. The IRS must release the tax refunds that low-wage families have worked for and earned. It is beyond the pale -- even for the Bush Administration -- to spend limited enforcement dollars on struggling mothers and fathers who scrape by to make ends meet while wealthy tax dodgers go free. Make your voice heard now.

Forty years ago, President Johnson declared a war on poverty. This President has declared a war on the people living in poverty.

Please take a moment to send this letter. And urge your friends and colleagues to let George Bush know that we won't stand for this immoral practice. Thank you.

Your friend,

John

How many of those so-called "values voters" from the 2004 presidential election will help out with this? Easy to join in the party but tougher to actually try and solve the problem, isn't it (especially when the trouble is caused by the people you support).