Lost a bit of respect for Marco Rubio this morning

First off, I really like Marco Rubio. I think he brilliantly articulates the idea for limited government without losing sight of the human compassion needed for a politician. He doesn't just follow the party in lock step and he's willing to stand up and say, "This area is grey and I understand that. But here's MY position and let me tell you WHY I feel this way. And oh by the way, I'm not going to call you a satan-worshipping, hippy, communist if you disagree."

But his editorial today is non-sensical in the extreme

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/story/2012-08-13/Olympic-Tax-Elimination-Rubio/57040234/1

I don't want politicians deciding what's "worthwhile" or "patriotic" and providing (yet another) loophole. These athletes don't need to worry about "an additional bill". It's not like they're being rewarded with a non-cash prize (like a car) that comes with a nasty cash tax bill at the end of the year. This is a cash prize that they PROBABLY didn't count on (I mean who COUNTS on winning a gold medal?).

It's also a little ludicrous to say that the tax laws are complicated so let's make them MORE complicated with ANOTHER exemption.

There's no way around the fact that this is income. It's nothing more than the bonus I get at work. Furthermore, logic like this would have you believe that we should not tax Congressman and Senators. Firefighters and Policeman. The President and Pastors. Soldiers and Sailors. The fact is, income is income and we should ALL pay our share. We can debate the LEVEL that that should be but elevating some individuals to some sort of "super patriot" status such that they don't have to pay taxes is ludicrous in the extreme.

Senator Rubio, please focus your attention on ACTUAL tax reform. It would be a far more patriotic thing to do!