President Obama is a tax-hike extremist. He intends to raise taxes on “the rich,” as he defines them, no matter the consequences to the economy. He made that clear this week when, as The Washington Post put it on Wednesday, he said he was “prepared to veto legislation to block year-end tax hikes and spending cuts, collectively known as the 'fiscal cliff,' unless Republicans bow to his demand to raise tax rates for the wealthy.”

The Bush tax rates have been in place for more than a decade. Keeping them cuts taxes on no one. Obama does not want to prevent a tax cut for people earning more than $200,000 a year; he wants to raise their taxes. He is so obsessed with raising taxes that he has now pledged to send the economy into another recession — which is what economists of all stripes agree would happen if the tax increases and spending cuts in the “fiscal cliff” deal go into effect — if he does not get his way.

This is not a financial argument from Obama; it is a political one. The left-leaning Tax Policy Center says the government would collect an additional $56.3 billion a year by letting the tax rates for people making more than $200,000 return to their Clinton-era levels (that's if the hike does not reduce economic growth). President Obama has posted budget deficits of more than $1 trillion for each of the last four years. The annual revenue from this tax hike amounts to just 5 percent of the deficit Obama ran this year.

This President is not serious about balancing the budget. He is not serious about stimulating economic growth. He is serious about one thing: taking money from people he dislikes and giving it to people he likes.