Time for Another Tax Revolution: ABOLISH the INCOME TAX and the IRS WITH IT! | Eastern North Carolina Now

    The 16th Amendment states: "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 Sixteenth Amendment, which gave the American people the affliction of confiscatory income taxes, is 100 years old this year. It was ratified on February 3, 1913.

    One hundred years of affliction is a long time. The time has come for tax reform.... No, the time has come for a tax revolution.

    The IRS, which is in charge of collecting the income tax revenue, is 138 years old. It was created by President Abraham Lincoln in 1862. It has gone from being an agency that terrorizes citizens over their tax returns to an agency that terrorizes citizens based on their speech and political viewpoint. Wouldn't it be nice if the American people, being in charge of their government, could walk into the massive IRS building in DC and deliver the line that has made Donald Trump famous: "You're Fired!"

    The Sixteenth Amendment was proposed in 1909 and adopted in 1913. The proposal of a constitutional amendment to give Congress the power to impose an income tax began as a scheme of political maneuvering that went horribly awry. In fact, the proponents, House and Senate Republicans who were in a battle for a new tariff bill, proposed the amendment as a political trick and expected the proposal to be killed by the States during the ratification phase, thereby making a popular and political statement that the American people in general do not want an income tax. But the plan backfired. A brief overview of the history of the income tax, including the Sixteenth Amendment in the United States is provided below.

    The Founding Fathers had rejected income taxes, as well as any other direct taxes, unless they were apportioned to each state according to population. At the time of our founding, wealth was measured in terms of property rather than income. Property was the goal of freedom. One exercised his inalienable rights to "pursue" happiness and obtain property. Our founders didn't talk much in terms of "income." They rejected the income tax entirely, but when they spoke of taxes they recognized the need for uniformity and equal protection to all citizens. "All duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States." "Direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States." "No direct tax shall be laid, unless in proportion to a census." This is what the US Constitution reads. Then, the 14th Amendment promised "equal protection of the laws" to all citizens. The principle behind the progressive income tax - the more you earn, the larger the percentage of tax you must pay - would have been appalling to the founders. They recognized that, in James Madison's words, "the spirit of party and faction" would prevail if Congress could tax one group of citizens and confer the benefits on another group.

    In Federalist No. 10, Madison asked, "What are the different classes of legislators but advocates and parties to the causes which they determine?" He talked about political factions, the reasons for them, the "mischiefs" presented by them, and apportionment of taxes. He wrote, most prophetically:

    "A faction is a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or a minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adversed to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community.

    There are two methods of curing the mischiefs of faction: the one, by removing its causes; the other, by controlling its effects.

    There are again two methods of removing the causes of faction: the one, by destroying the liberty which is essential to its existence; the other, by giving to every citizen the same opinions, the same passions, and the same interests.

    It could never be more truly said than of the first remedy, that it was worse than the disease. Liberty is to faction what air is to fire, an aliment without which it instantly expires. But it could not be less folly to abolish liberty, which is essential to political life, because it nourishes faction, than it would be to wish the annihilation of air, which is essential to animal life, because it imparts to fire its destructive agency.

    The second expedient is as impracticable as the first would be unwise. As long as the reason of man continues fallible, and he is at liberty to exercise it, different opinions will be formed. As long as the connection subsists between his reason and his self-love, his opinions and his passions will have a reciprocal influence on each other; and the former will be objects to which the latter will attach themselves. The diversity in the faculties of men, from which the rights of property originate, is not less an insuperable obstacle to a uniformity of interests. The protection of these faculties is the first object of government. From the protection of different and unequal faculties of acquiring property, the possession of different degrees and kinds of property immediately results; and from the influence of these on the sentiments and views of the respective proprietors, ensues a division of the society into different interests and parties.

    The latent causes of faction are thus sown in the nature of man; and we see them everywhere brought into different degrees of activity, according to the different circumstances of civil society. A zeal for different opinions concerning religion, concerning government, and many other points, as well of speculation as of practice; an attachment to different leaders ambitiously contending for pre-eminence and power; or to persons of other descriptions whose fortunes have been interesting to the human passions, have, in turn, divided mankind into parties, inflamed them with mutual animosity, and rendered them much more disposed to vex and oppress each other than to co-operate for their common good. So strong is this propensity of mankind to fall into mutual animosities, that where no substantial occasion presents itself, the most frivolous and fanciful distinctions have been sufficient to kindle their unfriendly passions and excite their most violent conflicts. But the most common and durable source of factions has been the various and unequal distribution of property. Those who hold and those who are without property have ever formed distinct interests in society. Those who are creditors, and those who are debtors, fall under a like discrimination. A landed interest, a manufacturing interest, a mercantile interest, a moneyed interest, with many lesser interests, grow up of necessity in civilized nations, and divide them into different classes, actuated by different sentiments and views. The regulation of these various and interfering interests forms the principal task of modern legislation....

    The apportionment of taxes on the various descriptions of property is an act which seems to require the most exact impartiality; yet there is, perhaps, no legislative act in which greater opportunity and temptation are given to a predominant party to trample on the rules of justice. Every shilling with which they overburden the inferior number, is a shilling saved to their own pockets."

    So, our founders took the view that taxation of wealth by the government should be equal and apportioned.

    Before the Civil War, the government received most of it revenue through tariffs (that is, taxing goods as they came into the ports). The South, being an agricultural community, relied heavily on imports and therefore generated most of the tariff revenue for the government (at least 70%). But then came the war, which meant ports were blockaded, ships were sunk, and in general, there was little money to spend on things that were not considered essential, and hence, there was almost no revenue from tariffs. Besides, the southern states had seceded and formed a new county and so their tariff revenue did not go to the federal government. So during the Civil War, Congress decided to try an income tax. It devised a really clever plan to get people to pay. It made the tax returns public. Essentially what would happen was this: If your neighbor saw you driving around on a brand new plow, he'd inquire through the public record how much he reported on his income tax. In order to avoid scrutiny and accusations, the rich would pay their required taxes. And in fact, the income tax fell almost exclusively on the rich.

    The financial requirements of the Civil War prompted the first American income tax in 1861. On August 5, Lincoln imposed the first federal income tax by signing the Revenue Act of 1861. Strapped for cash with which to pursue the Civil War, Lincoln and Congress came up with a tax scheme to impose a 3% tax on annual incomes exceeding $800. The Revenue Act's language was broadly written to define income as gain "derived from any kind of property, or from any professional trade, employment, or vocation carried on in the United States or elsewhere or from any source whatever." (Interestingly, according to the US Treasury Department, the comparable minimum taxable income in 2003, after adjustments for inflation, would have been approximately $16,000). By 1862, however, the United States government realized that the war would not end quickly, and that revenue gained by this income tax would not be sufficient. So the tax was repealed and replaced by another income tax, one of a progressive nature, in the Revenue Act of 1862.

    Thus, it was the Revenue Act of 1862 that introduced the first progressive income tax in America.

    The First Progressive Income Tax -

    The Revenue Act of 1862 proved to be more effective at raising money to fund the War. It contained three main provisions: (i) it established the office of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, a department in charge of the collection of taxes; (ii) it levied excise taxes on many (a majority of) every day goods and services; and (iii) it introduced the first progressive tax. Indeed, this new tax reflected the taxpayers' "ability to pay" by separating citizens into multiple categories and taxing accordingly:

    • For individuals whose annual incomes were less than $600, no tax was collected.

    • For individuals whose annual incomes were greater than $600 and less than $10,000, a percentage of 3% of total income was demanded in tax.

    • For individuals whose annual incomes were greater than $10,000, a percentage of 5% of total income was demanded in tax.

    • The act also stated that in order to assure timely collection, income tax was "withheld at the source."

    After the war when the need for federal revenues decreased, Congress, in the Revenue Act of 1870, let the tax law expire in 1873. However, one of the challenges to the validity of this tax finally reached the Supreme Court in 1880. The challenge was brought by a taxpayer. In Springer v. United States, the taxpayer contended that the income tax on his professional earnings and personal property income violated the "direct tax" requirement of the Constitution; that is, that is needed to be apportioned among the states. The Supreme Court concluded that the income tax was not a "direct tax" but rather an "excise tax," and hence did not need to be apportioned. The tax was upheld. [Excise taxes are taxes on the on the sale, or production for sale, of specific goods within a country. Excises are distinguished from customs duties, which are taxes on importation. Typical examples of excise duties are taxes on gasoline and other fuels, and taxes on tobacco and alcohol (sometimes referred to as sin tax].

    Although the Revenue Act of 1862 was allowed to expire, government had already gotten a taste of the revenue that could be generated by taxing the income of American citizens, It wouldn't be long before it looked once again to American purses. During the years of Reconstruction and rebuilding the nation, the growing industrial and financial markets of the eastern US generally prospered. But the farmers of the south and west suffered from low prices for their farm products, while they were forced to pay high prices for manufactured goods. Throughout the 1870's and 1880's, farmers formed various political organizations such as the People's (Populist) Party and the National Farmers' Alliance) and advocated for a graduated income tax to relieve them of their tax burden. And so, in 1894, a Democratic-led Congress passed the Wilson-Gorman tariff (a high tariff bill) which imposed the first peacetime income tax. The rate was 2% on income over $4000, which meant fewer than 10% of households would pay any income tax. The purpose of the tax was to make up for revenue that would be lost by tariff reductions. This was a controversial provision at the time and it was almost immediately struck down by the Supreme Court in 1895, in a case called Pollock v. Farmers Loan & Trust Company. Once again, a taxpayer challenged the legality of the income tax. In Pollock, a taxpayer sued the corporation in which he owned stock, contending that they should never have paid the income tax because it was unconstitutional. In this case, the tax was paid on income from land, and Mr. Pollock argued that since a tax on real estate is a direct tax, then a tax on the income from such property must be a direct tax as well. Since the Constitution prohibited a "direct tax" unless certain conditions are met, Pollock argued that the income tax should be declared unconstitutional. (The "direct tax" argument had also been used by Mr. Springer in 1880, but because the income tax had been expired for eight years at that point, it is believed that the Court just wasn't interested in looking closely at the wording in the Constitution and making distinctions between the different types of taxes).

    The Court in Pollock held that the income tax was a direct tax and as such, it had to be apportioned among the states according to their populations, as the Constitution sets forth in Article I, Section 2, clause 3 and in Article I, Section 9, clause 4. Since the tax at issue was not apportioned, it was struck down as unconstitutional.

    The provisions at issue in the Pollock (and Springer) cases are as follows: Article I, Section 2, clause 3: "Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons." Article I, Section 8, clause 1 provides that "all duties, imposts, and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States." Article I, Section 9, clause 4 provides that "no capitation, or other direct tax shall be laid, unless in proportion to a census or enumeration herein before to be taken." Section 2 of the Constitution deals with the House of Representatives specifically. Section 8 gives to Congress certain enumerated powers. And Section 9 lists what is prohibited to Congress.

    How does apportionment work, as per Article I, Section 2, clause 3? How would an "apportioned" income tax work? If an income tax is subject to apportionment, a state with one-tenth the national population, for example, has to bear one-tenth the aggregate tax liability, regardless of the state's financial condition. Suppose the populations of Iowa and Maine were equal, but Iowa's per capita income were twice Maine's. The rates for an apportioned income tax would have to be twice as high in Maine, the poorer state, as in Iowa.

    How is direct tax supposed to based on a census, as per Article I, Section 9, clause 4? If the government desired to raise $10 million and New York had 20% of the total U.S. population at that time, then New York would be required to raise $2 million. If New York had 1 million residents, each resident would owe $2 in taxes. Obviously, a tax based on income could not achieve such proportionality, since incomes differed across individuals.

    By the turn of the century, the progressive movement was entrenched in politics. It was the era of social unrest. The movement began after the Reconstruction era (the 1890's) in order to modernize society to the new industrial age. The movement was based on the assumption that the old principles of our founding were no longer adequate and so it sought to reform society and the role of government by addressing certain economic, political, and cultural issues. The common view of the Progressive movement, aside from the dismantling of traditional institutions and founding principles, was that government would need to grow and be actively involved in these reforms at every level. Furthermore, it held that the existing constitutional system was too constrained and outdated and must be transformed into a dynamic, evolving instrument to effect social change. Another theme was that the focus of government on the rights of the individual would have to be surrendered to seek the best for society as a whole. In certain aspects, such as basic rights and protections for factory workers, the movement helped government serve society well. But in many other aspects, such as the movement's inherent hostility and resentment of the wealthy and its need to increase taxation to seek social justice, government veered sharply from its constitutional course.

    At the same time, as public sentiment was changing, so did the complexion of the Supreme Court. The idea of using a tax to "soak the rich" began to take root among liberals in both major parties. Several times the Democrats introduced bills to provide a tax on higher incomes but each time the conservative branch of the Republican party killed it in the Senate. The Democrats used this as evidence that the Republicans were the "party of the rich" and should be thrown out of power.

    In a speech on April 14, 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt endorsed a progressive estate tax:

    "It is important to this people to grapple with the problems connected with the amassing of enormous fortunes, and the use of those fortunes, both corporate and individual, in business. We should discriminate in the sharpest way between fortunes well-won and fortunes ill-won; between those gained as an incident to performing great services to the community as a whole, and those gained in evil fashion by keeping just within the limits of mere law-honesty.

    Of course no amount of charity in spending such fortunes in any way compensates for misconduct in making them. As a matter of personal conviction, and without pretending to discuss the details or formulate the system, I feel that we shall ultimately have to consider the adoption of some such scheme as that of a progressive tax on all fortunes, beyond a certain amount either given in life or devised or bequeathed upon death to any individual - a tax so framed as to put it out of the power of the owner of one of these enormous fortunes to hand on more than a certain amount to any one individual; the tax, of course, to be imposed by the National and not the State Government. Such taxation should, of course, be aimed merely at the inheritance or transmission in their entirety of those fortunes swollen beyond all healthy limits."

    In 1907, he stepped up his campaign for several progressive additions to the nation's tax system. In his message to Congress on December 7, he urged lawmakers to consider an income tax:

    "When our tax laws are revised the question of an income tax and an inheritance tax should receive the careful attention of our legislators. In my judgment both of these taxes should be part of our system of Federal taxation. I speak diffidently about the income tax because one scheme for an income tax was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court; while in addition it is a difficult tax to administer in its practical working, and great care would have to be exercised to see that it was not evaded by the very men whom it was most desirable to have taxed, for if so evaded it would, of course, be worse than no tax at all; as the least desirable of all taxes is the tax which bears heavily upon the honest as compared with the dishonest man. Nevertheless, a graduated income tax of the proper type would be a desirable feature of Federal taxation, and it is to be hoped that one may be devised which the Supreme Court will declare constitutional."

    The inheritance tax was even more desirable, Roosevelt continued. Not only did it serve the cause of social justice, but it had been upheld by the federal courts:

    "The inheritance tax, however, is both a far better method of taxation, and far more important for the purpose of having the fortunes of the country bear in proportion to their increase in size a corresponding increase and burden of taxation. The Government has the absolute right to decide as to the terms upon which a man shall receive a bequest or devise from another, and this point in the devolution of property is especially appropriate for the imposition of a tax. Laws imposing such taxes have repeatedly been placed upon the National statute books and as repeatedly declared constitutional by the courts; and these laws contained the progressive principle, that is, after a certain amount is reached the bequest or gift, in life or death, is increasingly burdened and the rate of taxation is increased in proportion to the remoteness of blood of the man receiving the bequest."

    Roosevelt rejected arguments that an estate tax would penalize thrift.

    "A heavy progressive tax upon a very large fortune is in no way such a tax upon thrift or industry as a like would be on a small fortune. No advantage comes either to the country as a whole or to the individuals inheriting the money by permitting the transmission in their entirety of the enormous fortunes which would be affected by such a tax; and as an incident to its function of revenue raising, such a tax would help to preserve a measurable equality of opportunity for the people of the generations growing to manhood. We have not the slightest sympathy with that socialistic idea which would try to put laziness, thriftlessness and inefficiency on a par with industry, thrift and efficiency; which would strive to break up not merely private property, but what is far more important, the home, the chief prop upon which our whole civilization stands. Such a theory, if ever adopted, would mean the ruin of the entire country--a ruin which would bear heaviest upon the weakest, upon those least able to shift for themselves. But proposals for legislation such as this herein advocated are directly opposed to this class of socialistic theories. Our aim is to recognize what Lincoln pointed out: The fact that there are some respects in which men are obviously not equal; but also to insist that there should be an equality of self-respect and of mutual respect, an equality of rights before the law, and at least an approximate equality in the conditions under which each man obtains the chance to show the stuff that is in him when compared to his fellows."

    The Bailey Bill -

    In 1909, progressives in Congress were talking once again about enacting an income tax. They were going to attempt, once again, to attach a provision for an income tax to a tariff bill. President William Howard Taft had called Congress into a special session in 1909, shortly after his inauguration, to discuss the issue. He wanted Congress to address tariff reform. House of Representatives immediately passed a tariff bill sponsored by Sereno E. Payne (R-NY), the House Majority Leader, which called for reduced tariffs, but including an inheritance tax to make up for lost revenue. However, the Senate quickly substituted a bill, written by Senator Nelson W. Aldrich (D-RI), Senate Majority Leader and chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, which called for fewer reductions and more increases in tariffs. Aldrich was a long-time advocate of protective tariffs. His answer was to increase the amount of duty items. The problem, however, was that there was an impending budget deficit that had to be addressed. A protracted debate ensued, and progressive Republicans maneuvered to add an income tax amendment to the Aldrich bill. In April, Senators Joseph W. Bailey, a populist Democrat from Texas, and Albert B. Cummins, a progressive Republican from Iowa, introduced separate versions of an income tax provision. A compromise version was reached between the two - which became known as the Bailey-Cummins amendment - for inclusion in the Senate bill. In response to this amendment, Senator Aldrich defiantly declared: "There will be no income tax, no inheritance tax, no stamp tax, and no corporation tax!" It soon became evident, however, that the opposition, comprised of Democrats and progressive Republicans from the Midwest, had enough votes to force the issue in the Senate and thereby enact an income tax. Seeking to avoid that humiliation, Aldrich met with President Taft.

    In a message to a joint session of Congress on June 16, Taft first reiterated his support for tariff reform but warned of an impending budget deficit. On June 16, in a joint message to Congress, Taft In order to fend off Congress' proposed initiative for an income tax but yet provide for a mechanism to raise the revenue necessary (while making tariff reduction possible!), Taft recommended that Congress enact a tax of 2% on the income of a corporation "for the privilege of carrying on or doing business as a corporation in the United States." (Taft predicted - accurately, as it would later turn out - that the Supreme Court would view the corporate tax as an "excise" tax and not a "direct tax"). In his message, President Taft also endorsed the idea for a constitutional amendment that would grant Congress authority to impose a progressive income tax.