Randy supports the
elimination of the income tax
and the Internal Revenue Service
(IRS). He asserts that Congress had no power to impose a
direct income tax and has introduced legislation to repeal of the 16th
Amendment to the Constitution, which was ratified on February 3, 1913.
(This would also include abolishing the Federal
Reserve)
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,
Randy supports excise taxes, non-protectionist tariffs, and massive cuts in
spending.
The personal income tax should be abolished and not
replaced 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.”
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.
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.
Ron Paul’s 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.
On April 30, 2009 Ron Paul introduced the Liberty
Amendment with the following speech:
”Madam Speaker, I am pleased to introduce the Liberty
Amendment, which repeals the 16th Amendment, thus paving the way for real
change in the way government collects and spends the people’s hard-earned
money. The Liberty Amendment also explicitly forbids the Federal government
from performing any action not explicitly authorized by the United States
Constitution.
The 16th Amendment gives the Federal government a
direct claim on the lives of American citizens by enabling Congress to levy
a direct income tax on individuals. Until the passage of the 16th amendment,
the Supreme Court had consistently held that Congress had no power to impose
an income tax.
Income taxes are responsible for the transformation of
the Federal government from one of limited powers into a vast leviathan
whose tentacles reach into almost every aspect of American life. Thanks to
the income tax, today the Federal government routinely invades our
privacy, and penalizes our every endeavor.
The Founding Fathers realized that “the power to tax
is the power to destroy,” which is why they did not give the Federal
government the power to impose an income tax. Needless to say, the Founders
would be horrified to know that Americans today give more than a third of
their income to the Federal government.
Income taxes not only diminish liberty, they retard
economic growth by discouraging work and production. Our current tax system
also forces Americans to waste valuable time and money on compliance with an
ever-more complex tax code. The increased interest in flat-tax and national
sales tax proposals, as well as the increasing number of small businesses
that question the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) “withholding” system
provides further proof that America is tired of the labyrinthine tax code.
Americans are also increasingly fed up with an IRS that continues to ride
roughshod over their civil liberties, despite recent “pro-taxpayer” reforms.
Madam Speaker, America survived and prospered for 140
years without an income tax, and with a Federal government that generally
adhered to strictly constitutional functions, operating with modest excise
revenues. The income tax opened the door to the era (and errors) of Big
Government. I hope my colleagues will help close that door by cosponsoring
the Liberty Amendment.
Randy supports the Liberty
Amendment.
