A time-honored truth of politics and economics is that if you want less of something, tax it.

So apparently Barack Obama wants us to save less for retirement, according to Investors Business Daily:

Obama’s budget proposes lowering the amount Americans can put away in retirement accounts without a tax penalty. Retirement contributions are made in pre-tax dollars, which lowers your taxable income. Capping the contributions increases taxable income, raising the tax burden. It also cuts into the dollars available for retirement.

The president’s proposal limits accounts to $3 million in accumulated savings, enough to fund an annual retirement annuity of $205,000 a year.

Under current law, workers under 50 can place $5,500 in their IRAs each year in pre-tax dollars. Those 50 and over can contribute $6,500 in 2013. Contributions to 401(k) plans are capped at $17,500. The money is taxed when it’s taken out during retirement.

Obama’s plan won’t raise much revenue — just $9 billion over 10 years. It’s simply more of the Obama fairness campaign. The White House made this clear when it said last week that under current law “some wealthy individuals” can amass “substantially more than is needed to fund reasonable levels of retirement saving.”

Think about that statement for a moment, for it reveals a corrupt mind-set. The administration is saying that America has a government that believes it has the moral authority to decide just what a “reasonable” level of retirement savings is. That’s an alarming statement. …

But the political left is never honest about the policies it sells to the public. Small tax hikes become hefty ones. A bit of regulation grows into a grinding regulatory regime. Limited help for the poor produces a welfare state. Environmental laws, supposedly to clean up our air and water, actually wrest control of the economy from the private sector. Background checks and registration are the precursors for firearm confiscation. ObamaCare is the forerunner of a single-payer system.

Democrats are always poking a camel’s nose under the tent with the full intention of pushing the beast all the way in as soon as possible.

Given that, don’t be surprised if Obama’s retirement account idea leads to even more revenue than the $9 billion it’s supposed to raise. If it becomes law, Democrats will take the next step, putting a stranglehold on the trillions Americans now hold in their retirement accounts.

Already Obama’s Consumer Financial Protection Bureau chief Richard Cordray said the agency wants to “help” Americans manage the $19.4 trillion they’ve put away for their retirements, and is “exploring … in terms of whether and what authority we have.” …

And then there’s the Annual Report of the White House Task Force on the Middle Class released in February 2010 that, according to Connie Hair of Human Events, posed the idea of seizing “private 401(k) plans for government disbursement.”

Remember when Bill Clinton said you can’t love your country and hate your government? He was, as usual, wrong. Hating the government that wants to take away your hard-earned retirement savings is not only in your economic self-interest, it’s the patriotic thing to do.