Tea Party: What taxes they should be against

Seems like the Tea Party should come up with some policy goals that would give people a chance to understand more clearly what they're about.

We've heard they're about "Tax Enough Already," but that doesn't get very specific for policymakers except to lower any and all taxes, or at the very least, keep them the same.

Going back to the historic event for which they are named, we can get some guidance as to what taxes they should be against, if they want to be true to the historic Boston Tea Party.

The Boston Tea Party was largely about what colonists considered an unfair tax on tea, and taxation without representation. They believed they shouldn't be taxed by a body, British Parliament, where they had no representation.

But today, these taxes without representation take subtle forms.

So if you're against taxation without representation, here's a few modern day taxes you should be against.

The property tax is the biggest one. Businesses, for example, cannot vote in proportion to the property they own. Assuming they live in the jurisdiction that taxes them, business owners paying $100,000 in property taxes have the same number of votes those with no property - 1.

If they don't live in the jurisdiction where they have a business, they have even less representation. They can't vote to remove members of the city council or county board who are responsible for levying the property tax. They have no ability to be represented in the body that levies the tax.

On the flip side, the tax with the most representation is the sales tax. For most goods, you can choose to pay it or not by your decision to purchase the product on which the tax is assessed.

So Tea Parties true to their historic principles of no taxation without representation should be against properties taxes and for sales taxes.