Soak the Rich

Back in the hot summer of 1990, Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell proudly engineered the infamous "luxury tax," a nasty little tithe on everything from furs to jewelry to yachts.

Democrats were proud: Not only were they throwing new dollars at the Treasury, they’d done it by socking it to the rich. The wealthy, in the words of then-House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt, would finally pay "their fair share."

Within a year, Mr. Mitchell was back in the Senate passionately demanding an end to the same dreaded luxury tax. The levy had devastated his home state of Maine’s boat-building business, throwing yard workers, managers and salesmen out of jobs. The luxury tax was repealed by 1993....

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