As you know, George
Washington is considered to be the father of our country.
He presided over the
constitutional convention in Philadelphia and was our first
president.
Without his leadership
,and the universal respect he held, many believe there would never
have been a United States of America.
While he was instrumental
in creating our government, he was deeply concerned about the power
that government possessed and the tendency for it to be abused.
He said “ Government is
a necessary Evil” and then again :”Government
is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a
dangerous servant and a fearful master.”
If
the father of our country was concerned about the evil of government
power , perhaps we should be too.
And
the power to tax is the most raw form of government power that
exists.
Our
war of independence was fought ,In large part, over abuses of
taxation.
It
can punish enemies and reward friends, it can intimidate you and
manipulate your behavior, it can ultimately take your property and
destroy you when it is in the wrong hands.
Yet
while evil , as washington said, government and taxation is also
necessary.
How
else will we pay for legitimate functions of our government ?
So
the question before us becomes what form of taxation is the least
evil ?
What
form best keeps power out of the hands of government and with the
individual?
Well,
lets start with what the founders had to say about it.
Article
1 section 8 of the constitution states the congress has the power to
tax, but that tax must be uniform
throughout the united states. In other words, equal so that some
could not be taxed more heavily than others. This equality under the
law is a central tenant of our form of government.
Section
8 later states that no capitation or other direct tax on an
individual shall be laid.
So
the founders knew the ability to tax an individual or to tax
unequally was an evil that would lead to the abuse of government
power.
It
required changing the constitution before an income tax on
individuals could be instituted. The 16th
amendment , passed in 1913, not only allowed taxing income from any
source,
but
stated that it did not have to be proportional or equal among the
states.
By
the way, at the time, the people where promised the income tax would
be temporary, never more than 7%, and only on the most wealthy.
While
the top income tax rate started at 7% in 1913, it had risen to 67% by
1917 – just 4 years later. It has gone as high as 94% (under
Roosevelt) and as low as 25 % (under Coolidge) – but it has never
gone away. The moral – don't give government power and expect they
won't use it to the fullest.
So
what evil has the mutation of this new government power wrought in
the last 100 years?
First,
we have created a system that taxes unequally - depending on personal
income, and the political whim of the day.
The
power to tax an individual is virtually unlimited and depends only on
how much politicians want to take. If the government is taking 80 or
90 percent of your income, are you not in reality, an indentured
servant or slave?
The
motive for such inequity and theft is jealousy and revenge. The
commissioner of the I.R.S in 1953 stated that the income tax system
was “conceived in class hatred”. And he was exactly right.
We
say, It's not fair that he has more than I do so we are going to take
it from him by force. Those who want to punish producers do not see
that their own liberty is lost in the bargain.
Envy
------ one of the oldest and most destructive of human emotions, and
the income tax enshrines it. Is it any wonder that a progressive
income tax was a major goal of the Communist party – the worlds
biggest peddlers of a class hatred that empowers themselves.
The
system fails also because it gives exceptions to those the government
favors. It is ,by definition, unequal treatment under the law.
While
get the rich may be the battle call, only some of the rich pay a high
tax.
Those
with good attorneys and lobbyists, the right political connections
and an industry the administration in power favors, pay very little.
In
2011, G.E. Filed a 57 thousand page tax return and had profits of 14
billion. According to the New York Time, they paid no federal
corporate income tax at all. U.P.S. ,by contrast, had an effective
corporate tax rate of 34% that same year.
The
complexity of the tax code its self makes enforcement unequal - a
matter of whim, chance and some times even revenge on political
enemies.
No
single person could possibly know all of the tax law. It is
documented that the I.R.S. Its self gives different answers to the
same tax question depending on who picks up the phone.
If
no one knows exactly what the law is and it can be enforced
selectively - Is this not the very definition of corruption?
Beware
of what often passes as tax reform.
To
simplify the tax code is not a bad thing it just misses the point. A
flat tax for example is just what the income tax started out as
before the thousands of exceptions got written.
But
getting rid of the income tax altogether returns power to the people
and to the states;
Just
as its institution took power from the individual and gave it to the
Federal Government.
The
Fair Tax replacing the income tax is a structural change that will
deconstruct
illegitimate
and capricious federal power. Power that has grown over the last 100
years.
The
income tax targets the individual and his property with a power that
is limited only by the greed of politicians.
The
fair tax, taxes commerce in the form if new goods and services. When,
how and if that commerce takes place is controlled by each person.
The
income tax gives bureaucrats the power and reason to to inspect every
aspect of a persons life that has a monetary value attached to it.
The
fair allows how we make income and what property we own to remain
private.
The
income tax is full of exceptions and deductions the government
favors.
The
system can be , and is, used to manipulate us into certain behaviors
and punish others.
The
I.R.S. , for example, will use our tax returns to collect information
on who is compliant with Obama Care in 2014 and then take the
penalties from our tax returns if we do not have the approved health
insurance.
The
Fair tax is well ------fair. When any individual buys new goods and
services they pay a tax. The more he spends, the more he pays. There
is no favoritism or special treatment.
The
income tax is taken from the individual by the Federal government and
is apportioned back to the states if
they comply with Federal mandates for the funding.
The
fair tax is collected at the point of service, in the
states, then forwarded to Washington for federal functions only.
And
we know , as in all of life, who ever controls the purse strings has
the power.
As
Mr. Washington said – government is a necessary evil.
It
is our job not to empower that evil beyond what is absolutely
necessary to a government of and by the people.
