I have read a series of debates about whether or not there should be a Federal Income Tax. On one side, people argue that the government should not take their money and that since THEY earned it, it should be theres to keep. On the other side, though, there are those people that understand that the money that is taken is used for many different things that the nation needs such as security, health care (even if it is skewed), and numerous other programs. So, should there be a federal income tax?
The Federal Income Tax is an unconstitutional means of taking the hard-earned money of the American people.
To those in favor, I say "Where is the law that legalizes the FIT?"
Nowhere is, and always should be, the reply.
Since you argue against it, I suppose I must argue for it for argument's sake. You say that it is the unconstitutional means of taking the hard-earned money of the American people. After doing a small bit of research, I have come across an interesting thing: [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sixteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution]the sixteenth amendment[/url]. We look at this and it can be seen that the Sixteenth Amendment, a part of our constitution, specifically states that it is within legal right for the United States to tax Americans. It specifically states that:
The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.
The Congress has the right to tax the incomes of the citizens of the United States of America. And they rightfully do. We do not need to form a militia to protect ourselves because the government runs a military to ensure our national security. The budget in 2007 for our Military was $439.3 billion (reference found [url=http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2007/defense.html]here[/url]. Now, taking out the fact that we are in an unwanted war, the United States has kept up a strong military even in peace time with the means of protecting the home front. How would this military be funded if it were not for the billions of dollars collected each year?
Furthermore, how would ANY other government run programs, such as scholarships for students, health care (although that is pretty skewed), social security (even if it is getting messed up) and other programs if it were not for the money that is being fed into our government via the FIT? Without money, there is no way for the government to offer us all of these things. How would the government pay to keep up the highways where there are no tolls? The money earned from the FIT helps to pay for all of this and if it were taken away, how long would it be before the nation crumbled and little warlords took control?
Ok, it's not "illegal" under the constitution, but types of taxes to pay is "illegal" under the constitution. "Direct taxation" is not under the constitution & "Indirect taxation" is. An example of indirect taxation is like sales tax. If you don't want to pay that tax, you simply don't buy that item with the respective tax. Direct taxation is a forcible tax onto the general public, example is income tax because the directly require one to pay a tax to the government.
Now that you understand all that, under the constitution, there is a line that says something along the lines of no one shall be required to pay a direct tax... all taxes should be voluntary. Remember, "voluntary" means "of choice" or " to volunteer" which means not required or forced.
There is a documentary type video that is out there that does talk about this all. It's very interesting. I think it's called "American Freedom To Facism".
Also, answering the "would we have enough money question", is how did the US run the government from its creation to 1913?
How did we get involved in foreign wars? Too much money to spend, WWI, KOREA, VIETNAM, SOMALI, IRAQ1 and 2, and all the things inbetween, are funded by an illegal and unjust tax on the American people.
Then it would appear that the constitution is slightly skewed in that sense. However, direct taxation has been a thing that has long since been allowed in the United States. Furthermore, look at history in general. Every nation has always been taxed. Now, let us consider how it is unconstitutional to tax individuals. For an amendment to be passed, not only does it need two thirds of the state legislatures, such as in the House of Representatives, but it also needs two thirds of the individual states and their state governments to vote for it. Without all of that, it could not be passed. Yet, it was passed, so is it entirely unconstitutional if the ones we voted for (figuratively speaking) are the ones that passed the amendment?
Now, you bring up a good point: how did we survive before 1913? Well, the income tax was FIRST used during the Civil War. The war drained the economy and that was when it was used. Then it was called upon again in the 1890s. So, if you look at it, it can be seen that the United States did have the income tax a few times before it became an obligation to the citizens to pay that tax. That was how the Union was able to successfully keep the Confederate States in the Union. How would the United States have been without it? And what of the 1890s? Why did we have it then of all times? Why then? Perhaps we were finally realizing the need of more money in the government for programs.
Now, I am going to pass over your mention of wars because I really don't want to get into a debate over whether or not the wars were of a good nature or a bad nature. However, you do bring up the wars, but you neglected to notice one key thing: what about the other programs? How would we be able to fund scientific breakthroughs? How would we have been able to give our soldiers money after WWII which really led to a great economic and cultural boom since so many people were going to college without this money? Voluntary tax is nice; however, it does not make up for enough money for the government to offer all these great programs to individuals. It doesn't help enough.
It's all the excess money that the government has that allows President Bush to go on military adventures, run up the deficit by spending more than we have, and shifts the amount of capital from the hands of the hard worker to the banks and corporations, while we continue to print money that has no worth.