If you listen to the Left and Right arguing over taxes it's quite
funny. The Left thinks the rich need to pay a larger share and the Right thinks
the Left can "go to hell." Many scream for a flat tax, but when this
comes up there are always two problems: a) what percentage should the flat tax
be? and b) what percentage of the poor should be exempt from it?
What seems to be over looked is the reason we are having these tax
problems -- the fact that we are violating two primary tenets of the U.S.
Constitution:
1. We are supposed to have a limited government.
2. Taxes are supposed to be uniform.
Article I,
Section 8 of the Constitution states that "... all Duties, Imposts and
Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States." The word
"uniform" means everyone pays the SAME and no one escapes -- is
exempted. This is the idea of a so-called "fair tax" -- everyone pays
the same tax, apportioned throughout the states. So where does the Constitution
mention an Income Tax or a Sales Tax, or an Employment Tax, or any other Tax?
It doesn't specifically; it basically calls them Duties, Imposts and Excises. A
Duty is a kind of tax often associated with customs, a tax on certain items
purchased abroad. An Impost is a tax levied on imports, in essence a tariff and
an Excise is a tax on the manufacture, sale, or consumption of particular items
within a country, such as gasoline, liquor, cigarettes, airline tickets, tires
or trucks. The Excise tax is usually included in the price of the item.
All of these taxes are uniform, because again everyone pays the
same and no one escapes payment. The rates are not progressive in that they get
higher or lower depending on whether you are rich or poor. The idea of making
someone pay at a higher rate just because they happen to be richer, is not
fair. Thus the games the rich play with deductions -- have to play -- are
CAUSED by the fact that they have been charged unfair, unconstitutional rates,
rates that progress ever higher as their income rises. A Constitutional tax
requires no deductions or credits the rich must engage in in order to
effectively counter their unfair higher tax rate.
This is the way the Founders meant things to be. No games. No
endless accountings and 200,000 page tax code. The U.S. Constitution, which was
ratified in 1789, gave the "central government" the power to
"lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, pay the debts and
provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States."
Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
