It doesn't get any more "kitchen table" than that. By now, many of us have probably seen the email from Anne Kilkenny, a long-time Wasilla resident, outlining her concerns upon hearing of Palin's selection as McCain's running mate.
She mentions many important issues in her well-written letter, but this one jumped right out at me and deserves a little more attention:
She reduced progressive property taxes and increased a regressive sales tax, which taxed even food.
Now I am a mom, actually shortly I will even be a "soccer mom," and nothing is impacting my life right now more than the rising costs of food.
So I took a little look at the Wasilla Municipal Code, and sure enough there is no sales tax exemption for food, generally. (Although they have kindly decided not to tax school lunch or food stamps.)
My math is not the greatest, but based on the schedule included in the code, it looks like my family's typical monthly "big shopping" (you know, the one when we're down to condiments in the fridge) of about $220 would suffer an additional tax of more than $14. Oof. That hits me right where it hurts most.
If I were able to ask Sarah Palin a question right now, I would ask: how was taxing food consistent with your belief in small government, family values and lower taxes, and if elected, can we expect such a tax on the federal level?
But I can't ask her these questions. All I can do is hope the nation will get wise to her hypocrisy, before we make a terrible mistake that costs us all.