Kudos to House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (hold on a sec … waiting to see if my head explodes … nope, good) for seeing the war in Afghanistan as something we should all pay for.

According to ABC News, the Wisconsin Democrat, who opposes deepening our involvement in Afghanistan, said that if we’re going to implement a larger operation, we need to come up with a new revenue stream to pay for it. And unlike his Senate colleague Carl Levin, “Obey argued that the tax should be paid by all taxpayers, with rates ranging from 1 percent for lower wage earners to 5 percent for the wealthy.”

Higher taxes at a time of economic distress shouldn’t be imposed lightly. But if such a decision is made, a tax modeled on Obey’s proposal is the way to go. Assuming we all benefit from America’s warfighting capability, we should all pay for it.

Though I wouldn’t mind seeing some budget cuts to make room for additional Afghan spending, Obey’s not a big fan of slashing budgets and instead sees the Afghan operation as potentially sucking the core out of his party’s domestic agenda. As he elegantly stated it, “There ain’t going to be no money for nothing if we pour it all into Afghanistan.”