This morning the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee held a hearing on the Free Elections Now Act (FENA). Recently re-introduced by Senator Durbin, the FENA would create a system of tax financing for Congressional elections similar in many ways to the Presidential Campaign Fund, with one major difference:
Instead of obtaining funds by having them voluntarily diverted from income tax statements, FENA will obtain funding by creating additional taxes solely on businesses that obtain federal contracts of $10 million or more.
You read that right. If a business wants to obtain a federal contract, they need to pay their royalties to the ruling class. The “solution” to the “problem” of “the appearance of payoffs” is creating a system where payoffs are mandatory and routed through the U.S. Treasury.
In commenting on the proposed tax, Senator Durbin said: “This is not a new burden for these corporations.” I suppose higher taxes don’t constitute a “new” burden, only the ramping up of an existing one, but being forced to fork over money for political campaigns if one wins business with the government is, in fact, an entirely new burden, especially if those funds are used to support candidates that oppose the interests of the company.
