Why The Income Tax is Bad!

wkmac

Well-Known Member
Another Macism or stick poking that I'm so fond and prone to do? No, actually the title of a piece in the May 25th 1956' (yeah I said 1956') issue of US News and World Report in which IRS Commissioner T. Coleman Andrews makes some rather startling statements and if made today might provoke catcalls of extremist or other names.

Hope you find this over 50 year old piece worthwhile and informative.

Why the Income Tax is Bad, Interview with T. Coleman Andrews


There are a whole lot of people (both on the left and the right) who would do well to consider just the first several questions and answers in the piece in the bigger scheme of what is called public policy and what is also called "the planned economy." Both political sides engage in aspects of the planned economy. If I'm trying to plan a certain economic outcome, using a tax mechanism to steer the larger economy for that outcome is most important. If the economy via it's taxing powers is steering for an economic outcome, would we call that free?

Free Market?

If you prefer my good ole' radical self on taxes, then this should rattle your cage.

:happy-very:
 

wkmac

Well-Known Member
Imagine opening your newspaper or Web browser and seeing the following headline: “Supreme Court declares income tax unconstitutional.” (Now imagine cleaning up the mess you made after reading this headline and doing a vaudeville “spit take” with your coffee.)
It probably seems farfetched, but America’s court of last resort dropped this very bombshell in 1895..........

So, in case you were wondering, Washington operated without the benefit of income taxes for nearly 150 years. During that time, the federal government somehow managed to build and maintain a legislative and legal framework for a developing country, plus fight a few wars.
Of course, the folks who regard taxes as some sort of cover charge for democracy might respond, “Yes, but think about how much bigger the government is now — it has its hands in everything from education to health care.”
Exactly.

How did they manage to scrape by?
 
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