I wanted to do this yesterday - tax day, but I was busy so I am doing it today. It is my annual rant about the US income tax system and why it must be abolished and every American citizen should support this. I wasn't sure where to post it, but the DOGE threat seemed as good a place as any.
Let me start with some historical facts.
The first permanent income tax on American workers was put in place in 1913, with the ratification of the 16th Amendment which gave congress the power to tax incomes without apportionment to the states. The original income tax was 1% on earning above $3000 single, $4000 if married. Then there was an additional tax on incomes above $500,000. $4000 in annual income put a household in top 35% of wage earners so about 65% of American did not pay any income taxes. By 1944 the top tax rate hit 94% and almost everyone was paying something.
Over the years there have been myriad changes to the tax code which leaves us in the mess we have today - 75,000 pages of tax code that no one really understands enough to be certain how much tax they really owe.
But we do know that Washington treat our wages like an bottomless pool of money they can use for almost every kind of spending we can imagine, and some expenditures we can't believe. There is no doubt much of our tax laws were made intentionally complicated to prevent citizens from knowing what is happening to them. Take the alternative minimum tax for example. No one really understand what this is, why it exists, or why they have to pay it. But it was written ensure less than 200 wealthy people in the US paid a "fair share". But congress never indexed this law to inflation so within 30 years most Americans were subject to the AMT. It still exists today, despite surtaxes on income for Medicare and Obamacare applied specifically to the "rich".
Democrats like to say the top tax rate is one of the lowest in the world. This is more deception. The top rate of 37% is not really the top rate. There is a 2.8% surtax on incomes over $400k for Medicare, and a 3.8% tax on investment incomes for Obamacare. Those taxes push the top tax rate over 40% and this doesn't even include state and local taxes which often push the top rate over 50%
IMO, not enough American get angry over the system we have today. We pay taxes on everything. In reality more than halve of everything we make is paid back to the government in some kind of tax. And what did we get for all this money we earned? $34 trillion in debt! Where does all this money go? The simple answer is most goes to entitlements and benefits which already run at a deficit. $1.2 trillion pays the interest on the massive debt. But what we have created is a system where politicians take or money and they hand it back to some of us while claiming credit for being generous and helpful. They are buying votes and nothing more.
Washington long ago proved they cannot be trusted with the power to tax. I have no idea what citizens were thinking in 1913, but they made a huge mistake. Actually, I do know what they were thinking. They were thinking wealthy oligarchs were not paying their fair share, the same ruse used by Democrats today. The difference is, it might have been more true then than it is today. A fair share in the lawful share, and if you do not pay your lawful share today, you are punished, even imprisoned.
Income taxation is a form of tyranny. He who controls your money controls you. The founders understood this which is why there was no permanent income tax until 1913. It is why other attempts to install an income tax system were defeated in the courts.
The single greatest thing Trump can do to make America great again is get rid of the current tax system. Take away congresses power to raid our wallets and spend our money. A VAT gives us the power over the government. The income tax give the government the power over us.
newrepublic.com
