HELPFUL CHART: The idiocy of raising taxes on "the rich" (and by that, they mean small business owners)

Considering the Democrat establishment and the media (but I repeat myself) are engaged in an annoying, fact-free debate over tax rates and government receipts, I figured 'hey, why not do the job antique media should be doing?'

In this case, use actual "data" and "history" to come to some conclusions. Yes, out of the box thinking, I know.

Using data culled from the Tax Policy Center and the National Taxpayer's Union, I've plotted out a historical picture of individual tax rates on the highest wage-earners vs. individual tax receipts received by the federal government.

So what do facts, logic and reason tell us?

Here are some observations:

• The Reagan tax cuts ignited the greatest explosion in receipts from individuals to the government in history. Even Bill Clinton was the beneficiary.

• And Clinton also benefited from the the invention of the World-Wide Web, which touched off the tech boom during the nineties. The Clinton tax rate would have certainly suppressed growth had it not been for the coincidental occurrence of the tech boom and the massive spending on the Y2K (Year 2000) remediations that required investments of nearly a trillion dollars before the turn of the millenium.

• After the 9/11 attacks had sucked half a trillion dollars out of the economy, the Bush tax cuts helped revive the economy. That is, until the Democrats' grand experiment with Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and subprime borrowers touched off the mortage meltdown.

The government has a spending problem, not a revenue problem. And raising taxes on the most productive Americans -- including the small businesses who employ 54 percent of the private sector -- will have a debilitating effect on the economy.

Of course, facts, logic, history and reason are all anathema to Democrats and the media, which is why you'll never see any of these issues discussed.