Aside from the fact that Democrats love to party hearty and the prospect of a New Year's Eve Bacchanalia gives them something to look forward to, there is another reason for liberals to rejoice on New Year's day, 2011: the federal government will be the beneficiary of hundreds of billions of dollars in the form of expired tax cuts.

Investors Business Daily:

But as of midnight Dec. 31, the death tax returns - at a rate of 55% on estates of $1 million or more. The effect this will have on hospital life-support systems is already a matter of conjecture.

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The lowest bracket for the personal income tax, for instance, moves up 50% - to 15% from 10%. The next lowest bracket - 25% - will rise to 28%, and the old 28% bracket will be 31%. At the higher end, the 33% bracket is pushed to 36% and the 35% bracket becomes 39.6%.

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The marriage penalty also makes a comeback, and the capital gains tax will jump 33% - to 20% from 15%. The tax on dividends will go all the way from 15% to 39.6% - a 164% increase.

Both the cap-gains and dividend taxes will go up further in 2013 as the health care reform adds a 3.8% Medicare levy for individuals making more than $200,000 a year and joint filers making more than $250,000. Other tax hikes include: halving the child tax credit to $500 from $1,000 and fixing the standard deduction for couples at the same level as it is for single filers.

Now, lest ye think that the Democrats will apply this tsunami of cash to lowering the deficit, I would point to history to show why you are tragically mistaken. If the past is prologue, those monies will be used to fund even more government, more radical ideas, more statist solutions to our problems rather than bringing down our titanic level of debt.

In fact, there may be so much money coming in that Democrats will run out of ideas on how to spend it all. According to the IDB editorial, next year's haul from our purloining government will hit a staggering $115 billion and a mind boggling $2.6 trillion by 2020.

Even liberals may find it hard to spend that much of your money. I wouldn't worry though, they haven't disappointed us on that score yet, have they?

Hat Tip: Ed Lasky