NoSSN - Progressive Income Tax

Progressive Income Tax
October 13, 2000

In 1913 the income tax fell upon the great United States of America. For over a century it had been unconstitutional to directly tax U.S. Citizens. Then came the 16th amendment. This amendment supposed gave congress the power to set up the income tax system. it has been proven recently by several people through years of research that it was never properly ratified. The fact that the 16th amendment was never properly ratified is in actuality a moot point. The 16th amendment did not repeal any section of the Constitution. The sections of the Constitution forbidding direct taxation of U.S. Citizens is still in effect. The 16th only gives people the illusion that the income tax is allowable. What a shame it is that kids are not taught in school anything in the Constitution other than the preamble. It should be a required course.

Here's a couple of excellent articles from WorldNetDaily on the subject of regressive and progressive income tax.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/bluesky_btl/20001012_xcbtl_the_regres.shtml

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/bluesky_btl/20000905_xcbtl_the_progre.shtml

The idea of a progressive income tax is fairly simple. The people earning the most money not only have to pay more but they have to pay an increasing percentage of the money they earn. This is supposed to be fair. Since those that make more can afford to pay more. This is socialism, plain and simple. Of course we are taught that much of what we pay into the system gets paid back out in entitlement benefits. This is the wealth redistribution which Karl Marx taught in his "Ten Planks of Communism".

What it comes down to is simple. The government steals your money. The more you make the more they take. Then they give it to somebody who they feel deserves it more than you do. Of course they keep 80% of it to cover administrative costs.

What effect does this type of wealth redistribution have on people and on society? It has the effect of making people lazy and lethargic. Why should I work when the government will take care of me? Why should I try to better myself when the government will only take more and more of what I'm working so hard to make?

{begin going off on a tangent}
I used to work for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and I used to see this kind of thing on a daily basis. Working for the State one gets to see what this kind of thinking does to people. It didn't matter how well you did your job. It didn't matter if you showed up every day. It didn't matter if you went out of your way to make life easier for others. Nothing mattered. The only way you could get a raise was to change jobs or just wait for your yearly step raise or cost of living increase. Of course the union would decide that. The only thing that seemed to matter was how long you've been there. One of the most popular phrases heard at that place was, "That's not in my job description." People are there just doing time. Nobody would want to do any more than they absolutely had to. If they did only what was in their job description, they would never get fired. This kind of thinking is good for no one.
{End going off on a tangent}

The question seems to pop up; Why didn't anyone complain about the income tax when it started? Well, when the income tax was first proposed, it was only on the very rich. Yes, it was still a progressive, socialist kind of tax but it was very small. You had to make over $20,000 for it to affect you. That's over $200,000 in todays FRNs. The it was only 1%. It was a mere pittance. Nothing to do anymore than grumble about. (Oh, it's only one percent? Oh, Okay.) These days of course the income tax starts out at 15% and goes way up. Never mind the Social Security Tax.

Here's something even worse. How much exactly are we getting taxed? Let's take a look. Let's say, for example, you get paid $500.00 in one week. You're going to pay around $140 or more in taxes. That's before you even get your hands on your money. That leaves you $360.00. You then pay rent to your landlord in the amount of $300.00. Your landlord will then have to pay $84.00 of that in taxes. You take the remaining $60 of your pay and buy yourself something nice. 5% sales tax on that. Another $3.00 is gone in taxes. Of course that $60 is probably going to go to pay someone for their services another 28% ($16.80) is now back in the hands of the government. Now your landlord uses the remaining $276 to pay for snow removal or lawn mowing or fixing the plumbing. Those people now have to pay their 28% in taxes. That was your money which was already taxed. Another $77.28. We now have well over $300 of your original $500 now gone in taxes. That's going on in the space of about a week. In the space of a month, that original $500 that you made in a week is now all but fully absorbed back into the system.

Excuse me, my lunch is coming back up.

Before I go, here's a copy of the 1913 1040 form. Simple isn't it? The whole thing fits on one page. No SSN required either. It hadn't been invented yet. No wonder they didn't bitch about it.

"Let the people decide through the marketplace mechanisms what they wish to see and hear. Why is there this national obsession to tamper with this box of transistors and tubes when we don't do the same for 'Time' magazine?"

-- Mark Fowler, former FCC Chairman

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