The California Collection/TheCaliforniaCollection.cdr/his094/taxhist.arj/TAXHIST.TXT

Text File | 1990-09-04 | 7.9 KB | 177 lines

History of Taxes
================

by Lorne Strider


     Here is a brief history of taxes in America, with commentary.

     1646: Taxation in America initiated when New Englanders began paying a
tax to England based upon their occupation.

     This was the beginning of the end. New Englanders should have ignored
the tax or declared war immediately.

     1773: Boston Tea Party protest against English tax on tea.

     Too little, too late. Makes great American history reading, but deludes
school children into believing that Americans are tax rebels.

     1783: Articles of Confederation give Congress only the power to ask for
contributions from the states.

     Who is Congress, and who are the states?  I guess that meant if you were
not a "state" no one would "ask" you for tax "contributions".

     1861: First income tax adopted to pay for the Civil War.  The tax was
repealed in 1872.

     The relation between war and taxes is clear for all to see.  Neither war
nor taxes is of any value to anyone.

     1909: The 16th Amendment to the constitution gives Congress the power to
tax incomes.

     A day of infamy!  If anyone involved in this treasonous amendment were
alive today I would gladly strangle him!

     1913: Income tax implemented at sliding rate of 1 percent for income
between $20,000 and $50,000 and up to 6 percent for income greater than
$500,000.

     Such modest percentages!  This was an early "tax the rich" scheme.  Who
could object to a 1 percent tax on incomes over $20,000 when the average
annual income was less than $1,000?  However, the graduated income tax is a
program modeled after the ideals of Karl Marx, the father of communist
politics.

     1921-29: Favorable business conditions allow taxes to be cut five times.

     How did this happen?  The normal policy today is to tax anyone who makes
good money and give money to those who aren't making any money, but the
welfare state was a glimmer in the eye of social planners then.

     1943: Institution of tax withholding from wages and W-2 Form.

     A diabolical plot to deprive taxpayers the use and interest of their
money.  Also, at this time taxes were called "victory taxes" to support the
war effort.  Who could object to that?  Again, an obvious connection between
war and taxation.

     1958: Top personal income tax rate hits 92 percent.

     Karl Marx smiled from his grave.  Tax the fire out of anyone who made
money, and tax the life out of those who made huge amounts of money.  The
implication is that people need only so much income to live a reasonable
life, and all income in excess of this is owed to the state, or "society".
Who will determine what amount of money is necessary?  Arrogant politicians
of course!

     1963: Top tax rate lowered to 70 percent of salary income.

     92 percent was awful close to 100 percent, which, translated from
economic terms into philosophical terms meant that the state owned you
absolutely and completely.  To avoid revolution it was necessary to claim
only 70 percent ownership of the people by the state.

     1981: Economic Recovery Tax Act cuts top individual rate to 50 percent
from 70 percent, cuts capital gains rate to 20 percent from 40 percent and
provided accelerated cost recovery to business.

     Now the government only claimed half ownership of the people and their
investments.  The title of this act alerts you to the tax burdened business
climate of the time.  Things were getting bad and the state had to let up or
there would have been a great crash.

     1982: Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act stiffens criminal
penalties and attacks promoters of illegal tax-shelters.  In the same year,
Senator Bill Bradley, a Democarat from New Jersey, proposes to cut tax rates
and close loopholes, a theme subsequently echoed by Republicans.

     Warming up for the approaching year of 1984.  "Tax equity" can only be
achieved by ceasing taxation and returning all taxes collected to their
rightful owners.  A defi nition of "Fiscal" is "the treasury of a prince or
state". Then "Fiscal Responsibility", means responsible management of money
stolen by princes or governments.  Such management is not at issue.  The
issue is the original confiscation.

     1984: Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act cuts capital-gain period to six
months from one year.

     Merely a rearrangement of how fast your tax debt is payable.

     November, 1985: House approves Reform Measure that lowers top individual
tax rate to 38 percent from 50 percent and severely restricts businesses'
ability to depreciate investments.

     From a government perspective, people that need reforming should be sent
to reform school, or at the very least, to a re-education camp.

     June, 1986: Senate approves reform measure that lowers top individual
rate to 27 percent, eliminates Individual Retirement Accounts for most
people, eliminates some tax shelters but is less restrictive than the house
measure on other business deductions.

     More fiddling with the extent and details of the theft, but never a
question of theft itself.

     August, 1986: House and Senate conferees approve a compromise tax plan
that would set individual tax rates at 15 and 28 percent, lower the top
corporate rate to 34 percent, eliminate many deductions and raise overall
business taxes by about $120 billion.

     Robbery continues; accurate calculations and mystical justifications.

More Commentary
===============

     There is a fundamental lesson to be learned about the concept of
graduated taxation, which is the basis of income taxes in most of the world
today.

     The concept of taking more from those who make more is based upon an
arrogant assumption that a legislature can determine the amount of income
needed for life's needs for most people.  If dubious calculations by the
government indicate that it takes X dollars to purchase food, shelter and
clothing, then those who make x dollars "plus" have income for which they
have no need.  Part of the "excess" must be tendered to the king, or
"society" as expressed by the king.

     This concept, carried to logical extremes, leads to "negative" taxes,
where those who have made no income (produced nothing and served no one) are
given a portion of income collected from those who have produced.

     Now we have a welfare state.

     This is an objective overview of taxation, but statistics and economic
indicators are always devoid of human drama.  What about the effect of
Marxist taxation upon individual behavior?

     As you live your life, tending to your needs of food, clothing and
shelter, you find that you are taxed on a sliding scale.  The more income you
produce to obtain these necessities, the more you are penalized.  the lesser
the income, the lesser the tax penalty.

     Then, much to your dismay you discover that the same principle is at
work in all your affairs.  You may "own" a home or other property, but your
ownership is subserviant to the state.  Government is the ultimate landlord
and your rent is paid in the form of property taxes, real or personal.

     The more valuable and comfortable your home is the more taxes you will
pay.  The more shabby and poverty-stricken your existence is, the less taxes
you will pay.

     If Pavlov's observations about reward and punishment are of any value,
then taxpayers are the victims of a grand hoax.  Taxation policies are the
painful electric shock of Pavlovian controls.  The greater your success the
greater your dose of pain.

     Do you get the message?

     Produce less in order to earn less in order to lessen the pain.  The
state is trying to tell you something.  You should produce less, you should
become poor, you should fail. Don't fix up your home, you will be punished.
When you have achieved total poverty you will be rewarded with the
administrations of the welfare state.  It needs you.