The government is searching your couch cushions for spare change

Megan McArdle notes that Obama's plan to tax 529 savings is indicative of the endgame in seeking out new sources of revenue.  From "Uncle Sam is coming after your savings."

As I observed when I first wrote about the plan, the very fact that we are discussing taxation of educational savings -- redistributing educational subsidies downward -- indicates that the administration has started scraping the bottom of the barrel when seeking out money to fund new programs. Why target a tax benefit that goes to a lot of your supporters (and donors), that tickles one of the sweetest spots in American politics (subsidizing higher education), and that will hit a lot of people who make less than the $250,000 a year that has become the administration's de facto definition of "rich"?

Presumably, because you're running out of other places to get the money.

I make less - a lot less - than $250,000/year but I put 200,000 miles on my Subaru so I could do the responsible thing and put aside some money for my kids' college expenses.  It's utterly bizarre that the government would want to tax these 529 accounts but the government monster must be fed.  Get ready for the value-added tax, the last resort for significant tax revenues, and one that will punish all Americans equally.

OR we could shrink the size of this bloated, oversized government!  Amirite?