An income tax is the most degrading and totalitarian of all possible taxes. Its implementation wrongly suggests that the government owns the lives and labor of the citizens it is supposed to represent. Tellingly, “a heavy progressive or graduated income tax” is Plank #2 of the Communist Manifesto, which was written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels and first published in 1848.
To provide funding for the federal government, Ron Paul supports excise taxes, non-protectionist tariffs, massive cuts in spending.
Ron Paul discusses the income tax and the “FAIR Tax” in May 2007:
On November 20, 2008 Ron Paul said in a New York Times / Freakonomics interview:
“I want to abolish the income tax, but I don’t want to replace it with anything. About 45 percent of all federal revenue comes from the personal income tax. That means that about 55 percent — over half of all revenue — comes from other sources, like excise taxes, fees, and corporate taxes.
We could eliminate the income tax, replace it with nothing, and still fund the same level of big government we had in the late 1990s. We don’t need to “replace” the income tax at all. I see a consumption tax as being a little better than the personal income tax, and I would vote for the Fair-Tax if it came up in the House of Representatives, but it is not my goal. We can do better.”
On May 7, 2001, Ron Paul wrote the following column:
The Case Against the Income Tax
Could America exist without an income tax? The idea seems radical, yet in truth America did just fine without a federal income tax for the first 126 years of its history. Prior to 1913, the government operated with revenues raised through tariffs, excise taxes, and property taxes, without ever touching a worker’s paycheck. In the late 1800s, when Congress first attempted to impose an income tax, the notion of taxing a citizen’s hard work was considered radical! Public outcry ensued; more importantly, the Supreme Court ruled the income tax unconstitutional. Only with passage of the 16th Amendment did Congress gain the ability to tax the productive endeavors of its citizens.
Yet don’t we need an income tax to fund the important functions of the federal government? You may be surprised to know that the income tax accounts for only approximately one-third of federal revenue. Only 10 years ago, the federal budget was roughly one-third less than it is today. Surely we could find ways to cut spending back to 1990 levels, especially when the Treasury has single year tax surpluses for the past several years. So perhaps the idea of an America without an income tax is not so radical after all.
The harmful effects of the income tax are obvious. First and foremost, it has enabled government to expand far beyond its proper constitutional limits, regulating virtually every aspect of our lives. It has given government a claim on our lives and work, destroying our privacy in the process. It takes billions of dollars out of the legitimate private economy, with most Americans giving more than a third of everything they make to the federal government. This economic drain destroys jobs and penalizes productive behavior. The ridiculous complexity of the tax laws makes compliance a nightmare for both individuals and businesses. All things considered, our Founders would be dismayed by the income tax mess and the tragic loss of liberty which results.
America without an income tax would be far more prosperous and far more free, but we must be prepared to fight to regain the liberty we have lost incrementally over the past century. I recently introduced “The Liberty Amendment,” legislation which would repeal the 16th Amendment and effectively abolish the income tax. I truly believe that real tax reform, reform that so many frustrated Americans desperately want, requires bold legislation that challenges the Washington mind set. Congress talks about reform, but the current tax debate really involves nothing of substance. Both parties are content to continue tinkering with the edges of the tax code to please various special interests. The Liberty Amendment is an attempt to eliminate the system altogether, forcing Congress to find a simple and fair way to collect limited federal revenues. Most of all, the Liberty Amendment is an initiative aimed at reducing the size and scope of the federal government.
Is it impossible to end the income tax? I don’t believe so. In fact, I believe a serious groundswell movement of disaffected taxpayers is growing in this country. Millions of Americans are fed up with the current tax system, and they will bring pressure on Congress. Some sidestep Congress completely, bringing legal challenges questioning the validity of the tax code and the 16th Amendment itself. Ultimately, the Liberty Amendment could serve as a flashpoint for these millions of voices.
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republic vs democracy. democracies in the early greek city states produced the wildest excesses of goverment imaginable. In evrey case they ended up with mob rule then anarchy and finally tyranny under an obligarchy. During that period in greece there was a man named solom who urged creation of a fixed body of law not subject to majority whims. While the greeks never adopted soloms wise council the romans did. Based on what they knew of soloms laws
they created the 12 tables of the romon law and in effect built a republic that limited goverment power and left the people alone. Since goverment was limited people were free to produce with the understanding that they could keep the fruits of their labor. In time rome became wealthy and the envy of the world. In the mist of plenty hovewer the romon people forgot what freedom entailed. They forgot that the essence of freedom was the proper limitation of goverment. When goverment power grows peoples freedom receeds. Once the romons dropped their gaurd power seeking politicans begin to exceed the powers granted to them in the romon constitution. Some learned that they could use goverment power to take property from some and give it to others. agriculture subsidies were introduced followed by housing and welfare programs. Inevitably taxes rose and control over the private sector were imposed. Soon a number of romes produces no longer could make ends meet and they went on the dull. Productivity declined, shortages developed, and mobs begin roaming the streets demanding bread and circuces from the goverment.
Many were induced to trade freedom for security. Eventually the whole
system came crashing down. It went from a republic to a democracy and
ended up with an obligarchy under precession of the ceasers.: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFXuGIpsdE0
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Along with abolishing the IRS (which is illegal anyway since the 16th Amendment was never actually ratified) the Federal Reserve must be abolished.
This nation was founded on a simple but revolutionary concept of the public currency as a public utility, in circulation to serve the public. But Private Central Banks that issue the public currency as a loan at interest by design create more debt than money with which to pay that debt, which is why every single nation in history, without exception, enslaved to a Private Central Bank issuing the public currency as a loan at interest, has drowned in unpayable debt, with the wealth of the people stripped off and transferred to those bankers.
Ironically enough,this nation fought a revolution to be free of such a bank, the Bank of England, only to be sold back into private banking slavery by corrupt government not just once but three times, with the First and Second Banks of the United States, then the Federal Reserve. Private Central Banks do not exist to serve the people or the nation. They exist only to serve themselves. And we need to get rid of the Federal Reserve (which is no more “Federal” than Federal Express) and go back to the economic model that made the United States and the American people so prosperous in the early years of the nation.
Sadly, if one carefully studies the history of these predatory usurious entities, one sees the private bankers willing to do anything, including assassination and war, to keep their little scam going; to keep the people of the world their slaves.
“Let me issue and control a nation’s money and I care not who makes the laws” — Mayer Amschel Rothschild
Web search “ALL WARS ARE BANKERS’ WARS!”
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I hate the IRS along with the rest… but the sad thing is that apparently, people WANT the IRS and Taxes… otherwise it would have been gone a LONG..Time..Ago.. true story.
Why’s it still here? Why are we still complaining about it? Why hasn’t it been abolished? Nobody wants it gone? It’s still standing.. not only am I upset at the Administration running this racket we dare call a country, but the Citizens living in it are starting to piss me off even more!
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Most people don’t pay income tax and if they do they get most of it back. If you get rid of income tax along with the IRS the government may actually make money. Like myself, I don’t pay income tax because I have 5 dependents and don’t make enough money but I still get around $4000 dollars back every year. I don’t want them to get rid of income tax or IRS because I would not be able to file my taxes every year and get the $4000 that I did not pay. They would be taking a lot of free money out of the hands that need it most. The Government should stop giving borrowed money to other countries that we don’t even have and start taking care of our own people. You may think all I want is a free hand out but if the Goverment is going to give away money it should be to its citizens.
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Shame on you. You are the prime example of the humans that occupy this earth today. Bread like a dog, expect hand outs, and see no wrong in taking what you did not earn. Bravo John, Bravo.
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