Passage
of the 16th Amendment to the Constitution in March of 1913 launched the
income tax program we now have. It started small but over time grew to
the intrusive and expansive program it now is. With Constitutional
constraints on taxation lifted the federal government
was given free rein over tax policy, a profound violation of the
Founder's intent. Two of many outcomes were: (1) It gave the federal
government the ability to forceably collect income taxes; and, (2) it
enabled the federal government to redistribute/spend those
collected funds as it chooses. Hence, the many programs that now take
taxpayer funds and, without our consent, spend them as it pleases. One
of the ways they are spent is by redistributing them to the states in
accordance with its own rules, often as a means of bribing states into
taking actions they would otherwise not do. An outcome of this federal
power is that those in power get to spend money collected from residents
in one state and redistribute them for the benefit of residents in
another state. For a look at the current redistribution scheme to the
states see this link. http://taxfoundation.org/blog/monday-map-federal-aid-percentage-state-general-revenue
For a brief history of income taxation in the US see this link. http://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/tax-tips/General-Tax-Tips/A-Brief-History-of-Income-Taxes/INF18754.html
George Burns
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