Thanks

Perhaps I'm naive (even tho a former Marine) but what are the REAL additional costs when our Armed Forces are in combat? REAL meaning over and above what is already expended (pay, basic materiel, etc) wherever they are, whatever the "wartime" situation is

That seems to be about the understatement of a century. — Has ANY tax ever been removed (not -temporarily- reduced, repealed) without being replaced by a similar tax to cover much the same entity? That would be a list to "study". Intuition tells me it might be short. — However the case, taxes to support entitlements are the most destructive of all, for being the most disruptive of individual responsibility. That not only applies to the recipients, but also in a far worse way to the dispensers of such "gifts", whom it apparently corrupts almost totally, even to the point of ignoring or denying constitutional mandates.

Below, the short history of a "long" tax:

In the very late 1800's Germany's young emperor, Wilhelm_II, decided that his country's "…future lay upon the high seas." Heavy commercial trade with China and a few "fresh colonies" in SE_Africa confirmed him in his view. Being also somewhat the "poor relation" of Queen Victoria, and a bit insecure, he felt the need to impress. He rationalized that it would be appropriate to Germany's new status as an emerging world power to have a navy able to demonstrate this "fact" to an astonished world.

But, how to pay for it? Well, ships being traditionally christened by the breaking of a good bottle of Champagne, and the moneyed classes enjoying this beverage rather copiously and conspicuously, the good emperor thought he could scarcely do harm by imposing a tax on all "sparkling wines". So he did.

His navy got built in time to enter WWI, where it was still out-gunned by the British. The war was lost. The emperor was exiled to Holland, all remaining ships surrendered as per armistice agreement to the Admiralty in 1919 — albeit scuttled by their own crews.

The "young" ships of an aging former emperor now "resting" at the bottom of the ocean, guess what wasn't scuttled, to this very day? Right: the tax. What once applied to an "emperor's" more prosperous subjects survived the "Revolution" of 1919; the Weimar Republic, including the great hyperinflation of the early 20's; the Third Reich and its total collapse between 1945 and 1948. Survived, to now be "shared" by all, including the "lowliest" of free citizen who may have acquired a taste for now no longer unaffordable sparkling wine of any kind. Had Charles Dickens lived a century later, he might have written "A Tale of Two Navies and A Tax".

Taxes have long legs. Tough to outrun them.

Taxes have long lives. Tough to outlive them.

Taxes adapt to a changing body politic. Tough even to out-morph them. Some would say, "impossible". I would tend to agree.

Of course, that would be too simple and not on their NWO agenda.

In short, any of Obama, Reid, Pelosi, and/or their Comrades, using the war in Afghanistan as an excuse for imposing and/or raising any tax or taxes, such as and especially now when there is more than enough government abuse, fraud, and waste to more than pay for the war in Afghanistan and elsewhere, is yet another example of the government elitist and statist so-called “Progressives (Leftists)” trying to vainly "justify" yet another of their power and money-grabs.