Here's a great idea - one I proposed last December:

Three senior House Democrats are proposing a new tax to pay for the Iraq war, as well as vowing to oppose any funding bill for Iraq that does not include a policy for ending the conflict.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.), Rep. Jack Murtha (D-Pa.), chairman of the Defense subcommittee on House Appropriations, and Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), will soon unveil a "surtax" on taxes owed by Americans to help cover the cost of the war, the trio announced this morning.

The tax is designed to raise $140 billion to $150 billion annually, and would range from a 2% surtax on low-income Americans to as much as 15% for wealthy taxpayers.

Why is this a great idea? Because on second after rich Americans are asked to pay for Bush's war, they will demand that it end immediately. They don't care about Iraq; all they care about are their tax cuts. 

My main objection to Obey's proposal is that all of the surtax should be imposed on the wealthy, since they have been the prime beneficiaries of Bush's $2 trillion in tax cuts. The rest of America has watched their wages decline and their costs go up - especially for gas, health care, and college.

Unfortunately Nancy Pelosi immediately attacked the idea:

Some have suggested that shared sacrifice should take the form of a draft; others have suggested a surtax. Those who oppose a tax and the draft also should oppose the President's war. Just as I have opposed the war from the outset, I am opposed to a draft and I am opposed to a war surtax. The choice is between a Democratic plan for responsible redeployment of our troops and the President’s plan for a 10-year war in Iraq. We must end this war.

Yes we must end it. But in her 10 months as Speaker, Pelosi hasn't managed to cut 1 soldier or 1 dollar or 1 day from the war, because she doesn't have 218 Democrats who really oppose the war, and because she hasn't done anything to get more Democrats or Republicans on board.

The war surtax plan hits Congressional war supporters, both Democrats and Republicans, right where it hurts most - in the wallets of their campaign donors. If those donors start hammering their Congressmen, we'll get over 218 votes to end the war.

Update 1: It's great to see Kos on board, using the newly-rediscovered "fiscal responsibility" argument that Bush is using to oppose the expansion of SCHIP.

Republicans continue to insist they can fight and "win" this war without requiring a shred of sacrifice from the American people. However, the war is killing our military (literally and figuratively), destroying our financial health, and is no closer to "victory" than we were four years ago.

At the very least, they could pay for this war, yet that would require the sort of fiscal responsibility which they abandoned as soon as they won the government trifecta. 

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