Topic: Taxation
Taxing Times This week, we celebrate Tax Day. While most Americans accept April 15 as a consequence of citizenship, I view it as a national holiday that symbolizes how far we have strayed from Constitutional government. The whole tax code is a complicated web of waste and corruption. If they were alive today, some of our most revered leaders would share my view.by Kenn Jacobine
(Libertarian)
Sunday, April 13, 2008
This week, we celebrate Tax Day. While most Americans accept April 15 as a consequence of citizenship, I view it as a national holiday that symbolizes how far we have strayed from Constitutional government. The whole tax code is a complicated web of waste and corruption. If they were alive today, some of our most revered leaders would share my view.
The same prudence which in private life would forbid
our paying our own money for unexplained projects, forbids it in
the dispensation of the public moneys. -- Thomas Jefferson,
1821
Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) recently released their annual publication "Pig Book" which chronicles fiscal year 2008's congressional earmarks. According to CAGW, Congress passed, as part of 12 appropriations bills, 11,610 projects worthy of the title "pork barrel spending." The number of projects represents a 337 percent increase over the 2,658 projects from the year before. The 11,610 projects were worth $17.2 billion which represented a 30 percent increase over the fiscal year 2007 total of $13.2 billion. Egregious offenders of federal pork include: Montana Senators Max Baucaus (D) and Jon Tester (D) for $148,950 for the Montana Sheep Institute, Representative Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) for $1,950,000 for the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service, Maine Senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe (R), and Rep. Thomas Allen (D-Maine) for $188,000 for the Lobster Institute, and Representative Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) for $211,509 in olive fruit fly research in Paris, France. And you thought sheep, lobsters, and olive fruit flies were not in our national interest. One thing is certain, none of these expenditures meet constitutional muster. Thanks to CAGW for allowing us to see how our elected officials are good stewards of our tax dollars.
I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the
Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending,
on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.... --
James Madison, 1794
How many times have we heard from congresspersons that we must all pay our "fair share" of taxes to provide for the "common good"? What is a fair share? Those words are not in the Constitution. Something else that is not in the document is the authorization to spend money on welfare programs, government run insurance schemes, and aid to other countries. James Madison knew this and he was the "Father of the Constitution". In fiscal year 2008, our tax dollars will be spent in the following quantities: $36 billion in foreign aid to developing countries, $33.6 billion for the Housing and Urban Development Department, and $58 billion for the Health and Human Services Department. All of this spending is done with good intentions to help people, but none of it is constitutional.
Collecting more taxes than is absolutely necessary is legalized
robbery. -- Calvin Coolidge
A few years back, I made a similar comment to a good friend about taxes and legalized theft. He looked at me incredulously and then laughed hysterically. Just because something is legal does not make it right. We can point to slavery and Jim Crow Laws for proof. According to the Constitution, all of Congress's powers are in Article 1, Section 8. These powers can be placed in seven categories: coining money, immigration law, post offices, patents and copyrights, courts, the military (including sole right to declare war), and Washington, D.C. Congressional authorization to spend money on farm subsidies, education, national parks, and corporate welfare is not mentioned.
How many of us have heard that the Constitution is an archaic piece of paper that no one should pay attention to any longer? It is just this kind of thinking that has given us unreasonable searches and wiretaps through the so called "Patriot Act". No, the Constitution is not an old fashioned, outdated document. It guarantees our rights as citizens and limits the power of the government. So, if you are one who believes that April 15 is a consequence of citizenship, reconsider. April 15 should be a reminder of the bountiful times Congress violates the very document they swear to uphold. Happy Tax Day everyone!
Kenn Jacobine teaches History and English for the AmericanInternationalSchool of Lusaka, Zambia. Send him email at lovesliberty@gmail.com.
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2008 Kenn Jacobine, all rights reserved.
Published: Sunday, April 13, 2008
Last modified: Sunday, April 13, 2008
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Have you heard the story about the person who was seeking the truth and one day a knock came upon the door. The seeker asks "who's there?" "The TRUTH" answered the voice on the other side. "Go away!" the seeker remarked, "I'm busy seeking the truth".
I recently watched the documentary entitled The Esoteric Agenda, produced by Talismanic Idols Productions and posted to Google Video on February 08.
All of you who wish to argue your point of view as though you are educated enough to do so may want to watch this two hour video with an open mind before you continue to support a particular point of view.
Although "Conspiracy Theory" has become a label just as demeaning as "Anti-Semite", anyone who is unwilling to watch this video is hiding their head in the sand. This is not a "theory" - it is historical fact.
Pretending that choosing sides in the game actually matters is part of the game itself. And the participants will forever remain ignorant of the true reality we are faced with. Why do things never get better no matter who gets elected? Why do the Dems and the Repubs appear to represent opposing sides yet the results (Endless WARS, NAFTA, the NAU, the FED, the IRS, the American Empire, Poverty, Globalism, the Subprime Crisis, Mandatory Healthcare...) always make their way into our lives even when we send representatives to Washington to oppose these?
Why is it nearly impossible for an Independent candidate to gain ballot access? Why is religion and politics really intertwined? Why are the "common" people's needs and wishes ignored by their leaders? Why is the FED unaccountable to Congress even though their is an appearance of oversight? Who really runs the show?
Watch this video in it's entirety - NOT just the first several minutes. If you think of yourself as educated and seeking the truth you will have no problem watching this. If not, then you are brainwashed like most of the sheeple and have an agenda of your own (to be right) without seeing the bigger picture. In effect, your ignorance is perpetuating the problem - not solving it. If you want to post opinion pieces here - please do so for a sincere desire to educate and BE educated, not merely to post articles because it makes you feel important and righteous.
It may seem outrageous, but this is not an OPINION - it is documentation that can be looked up by anyone who wants TRUTH over the ILLUSION of truth.
We are being managed. Watch this and you just may see things differently. It just may put an end to taking sides - it just might wake you up.
Kenn everything you say is true. The big problem is that the American people don't care. They all want free stuff from the government and to hell with the constitution.
The following quote is attributed to the 18th century Scottish historian Sir Alexander Tytler:
"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largess from the public treasury. From that time on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the results that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship."
In my opinion Tytler was right and America is now aggressively pursuing the outcome he predicted. We have a $9 trillion dollar national debt and $45 trillion in unfunded future liabilities, largely due to social security and medicare. David Walker, the past comptroller general of the US, publicly stated that this could bankrupt America. So what are the pols proposing to do about it? The Dems want to spend more on health care and the Republicans want to spend more on unnecessary wars!
( Yeah I know the founders created a constitutional republic, not a democracy. But since no one gives a hoot about the constitution our government now functions like a democracy.)
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2008 Kenn Jacobine, all rights reserved.