A Love Letter to the IRS
22 February 2007
by Christian McPhate, Contributing writer for AnaiRhoads.org
AnaiRhoads.org - The horrid holiday is almost upon us, and the never ending shelling out of our hard-earned money has begun yet again.
It is a disastrous day formed through the love of our forefathers.
It is a love that began in the early stages of the Civil War and continued through the centuries, leaving a horde of starving children in its wake.
In 1862, the federal income tax was born, levying a 3 percent tax on the citizens who made over $600 and rose to 5 percent for the incomes over $10,000.
In 1864, the government was enamored with the greenery flowing through the nation’s Capitol and raised the rates.
The citizens, feeling the loss of the government’s love, formed together under the spirit of the Boston Tea Party and began complaining about the tax hikes.
The Supreme Court answered the people’s call and smacked down certain parts of the statute, stating that it was unconstitutional to tax the citizens’ hard earned wages.
The love struck Congress, feeling the jealousy of the people, enacted the 16th Amendment into the nation’s Constitution, a document that granted the citizens of this nation the freedom from the burden of the monarchy’s taxation.
It was the beginning of a long history of tax hikes.
Since that beloved time our government has given birth to slew of taxes, including:
Accounts receivable tax, Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), Building permit tax, capital gains tax; CDL license tax, cigarette tax, corporate income tax, court fines, dog license tax; excise tax, federal income tax, federal unemployment tax (FUTA); FICA tax, fishing license tax, food license tax, fuel permit tax; gasoline tax, gift tax, hunting license tax, inheritance tax interest expense; inventory tax, IRS interest charges, IRS penalties, liquor tax; local income tax, luxury taxes, marriage license tax, Medicare tax; property tax, real estate tax, recreational vehicle tax, road toll booth taxes, road usage taxes; sales tax, equivalent use tax, school tax, septic permit taxes; service charge tax, Social Security tax, state income tax, state unemployment tax (SUT); telephone federal excise tax, telephone federal, state and local surcharge taxes, telephone federal universal fee tax, telephone minimum usage surcharge tax, telephone state and local tax, telephone usage charge tax; toll bridge taxes, toll tunnel taxes, traffic fines, trailer registration tax; transfer tax, generation-skipping transfer tax, utility taxes; vehicle license registration tax, watercraft registration tax, well permit tax, wheel tax and workers compensation tax… just to name a few.
In January 2005, President George W. Bush formed the President’s Advisory Panel on Federal Tax in hopes of making the tax code "simpler, fairer, and more conductive to economic growth."
After several years of immersing their consciousness into the realms of the tax codes, the panel unleashed several theories on the current state of the government’ relationship with taxes:
1) We have lost sight of the fact that the fundamental purpose of our tax system is to raise revenues to fund government.
2) Tax provisions favoring one activity over another or providing targeted tax benefits to a limited number of taxpayers create complexity and instability, impose large compliance costs and can lead to an inefficient use of resources.
3) The current tax system distorts the economic decisions of families and businesses, leading to an inefficient allocation of resources and hindering economic growth.
4) The complexity of our tax code breeds a perception of unfairness and creates opportunities for manipulation of the rules to reduce tax.
5) The tax system is both unstable and unpredictable.
6) The objectives of simplicity, fairness and economic growth are inter-related and, at times, may be at odds with each other.
The panel developed two plans that give birth to a different mindset with businesses and capital income, and even though the new viewpoints use opposite methods, the strategies share a similar goal – simplicity and fairness for the American taxpayer.
Of course, Bush is to busy, showering the gifts of missiles on his desert mistresses, to heed the call of his specialty panel.
As the executive branch’s focus continues to stay locked on the oil-rich/religiously fanatical countries of the Middle East, feeding Bush’s spiraling child of chaos, the income of the American people continues to disappear at an alarming rate.
In 2008, the taxpayers of America can make the federal government listen to our scorned voices and vote a true man or woman of the people into office.
It is a right granted to us by the Constitution.
Let us start using our god/science-given power of freedom of choice, for only then will the politicians truly hear our voices.
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