For some politicians, nothing is worse than not having enough tax money to spend. With about 40% of the U.S. Gross National Product being confiscated in the form of taxes, it's becoming increasingly difficult to find new sources of tax money. So some politicians are taking aim at those evil cell phones. You didn't actually expect them to freeze (or for God sakes cut) spending did you?

Last year, the City Council in Baltimore faced a budget shortfall so bad that it considered laying off 186 city police officers, reducing some fire department operations and scaling back trash collection. Then it found an untapped honey pot: cell phones.

Starting in August, the city began collecting $3.50 a month from each of Baltimore's 238,000 mobile phone subscribers. The extra income has helped to strengthen the city's finances and is expected to help the city fix up schools and trim the property tax.

"I can't remember the last time we've had such an easy budget year," said Sheila Dixon, the president of the City Council. "The bulk of our taxes come from property tax, but when you can't diversify and the federal and state taxes are drying up, you need other income."

Sure, raising taxes is always easy. Notice too how confiscatory taxes are talked about like investments, using terms like "diversify" and "income". If you or I go out and seize money using the threat of lethal force, it's called robbery. When Baltimore does it, it's called an "easy budget year".