April 14, 2009
by Jake, the Champion of the Constitution
| Comment on the Blog
"In a Time of Universal Deceit, Telling the Truth is a Revolutionary Act." - George Orwell, author of 1984
1) The premise behind collecting the federal income tax is a complete farce. The IRS claims the tax is
voluntary, whereas any sane American realizes that she or he will go to jail if the tax is not paid. This is evident from not only the legal code, but even from the latest 1040 instructions to the taxpayer!
(1A) (1B) (2) (3)
IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman writes that the American taxpayer willingly pays income tax "of their own free will" but laments "unfortunately, there will always be some that cheat their fellow citizens by avoiding the payment of their fair share of taxes." Shulman then infers that IRS enforcement will be "prompt" and "strong" (read: 'swift' and 'merciless') for this voluntary tax. (4)
The Treasury calls it "our voluntary tax system." The IRS claims it pursues "enforcement programs to promote voluntary compliance" and establishes "strategies to maximize voluntary tax law compliance by emphasizing customer satisfaction." (5)
2) The federal income tax was originally a Marxist idea. Karl Marx wrote the 10 Planks of a Communist State in his Communist Manifesto. The second plank, right after the abolition of private property was "a heavy progressive or graduated income tax." (6) In 1909, this Marxist idea was politically accepted by Americans as retribution against the "evil capitalists" who had caused the Panic of 1907. 100 years later, both political parties now scapegoat all those in the financial industry as "evil doers." (7) By claiming an ever-increasing amount of your income, the State literally owns your labor. (photo)
3) The federal income tax is unconstitutional. The 16th "Income Tax" Amendment of 1913 was likely never officially ratified, and even if it was, in 1916 the Supreme Court ruled "the Sixteenth Amendment does not purport to confer power to levy income taxes" in Brushaber vs. Union Pacific Railroad. (8, 9, 10, 11) The income tax was first placed into circulation as a 1-7% tax on only the very richest Americans. This top tax bracket grew to an onerous 92% in the 1950s. While this receded, for the middle class this tax has grown 500% to 1000% from this time period. (12)
4) The income tax is mostly used for War-Making, the Welfare State, and the National Debt - not general government and law enforcement! The income tax amounted to $1.2 Trillion for 2008. (13) Outlays were for $2.9 Trillion plus the $0.8 Trillion October bailout. (14) We spent just $0.067 Trillion for general government and law enforcement! (15) Out of every tax dollar, the IRS estimates we spend about a quarter on defense, a dime on the national debt, two pennies on general government & law enforcement and the remainder on Social Security (a giant Ponzi scheme) and other welfare and social programs. (16, graph)
5) The $1.2 Trillion federal income tax is unnecessary. Cutting our overseas military empire spending of $1 Trillion per year would justify its elimination. (17) Instead of bailing out the banks for $0.8 Trillion in October and $1.1 Trillion of the Obama stimulus plan, we could have bailed out the increasingly unemployed taxpayer for at least the 2008 tax bill as I argued in January. (18)
6) The federal income tax code is time-consuming, confusing and baffling for many Americans. No wonder - the code itself now consists of 3.4 million words and if printed would fill 7,500 pages.
(1B) The code and regulations together were 66,498 pages long in 2006.
(19) The taxpayer's 1040 instructions are 161 pages long.
(4) Americans spent
6.4 Billion hours filing their taxes in 2006.
(19)
7) America's "Tax Army" employs more people (1.2 million) than we have armed forces stationed in the United States (0.9 million). (20, 21) Collecting taxes is a completely non-value added task, adding nothing to our economy. Some of our brightest minds - lawyers, accountants, and computer experts - pound away at keyboards trying to figure out either how to plunder more money from others or find loops in the tax code to "save costs" for their clients. The total cost of collecting taxes is estimated at $63 billion, ironically just $4 Billion short of funding general government and law enforcement! (22) (15) The IRS employs 91,000 and will spend $11.6 Billion in 2009 collecting taxes. (23) (24)
Patriots willing to exercise their natural right to peacefully assemble at your closest local protest site (or just start a protest yourself) are encouraged to enlist with both the Tax Day Coalition (TaxDayCoalition.com) and Tax Day Tea Party (TaxDayTeaParty.com) as I have for events on both on and after April 15. If you would like to join me at a very peaceful protest in east-central Pennsylvania on 4/15, please email me or leave a comment below. [For any government officials reading this, I have paid my taxes every year because I do not want to be imprisoned at the moment, and the collective "you" has failed to intimidate or scare me.] (photo)
A local Pennsylvania man, Arthur Farnsworth, resisted the IRS and maintains he paid all taxes as required by law. He spent the last 2 years in prison and ironically will be released, jobless and near penniless, on April 15th, 2009. (25) He will be on my mind this Wednesday, bringing to mind an earlier article I wrote a year ago on this topic: "First They Came for Those Who Didn't Pay Their Taxes."
The above facts are available in a nifty flyer format in Word for editing if you wish or in PDF format. Just email me or leave a note below. (flag)
For the Constitution! For the Republic!
If you enjoyed this post, please make a donation to help keep this website active:
Click Here for the Free Populist Party Newsletter
Jake Towne [send him email] "the Champion of the Constitution," is a freedom writer and publishes a column at the Nolan Chart. The column seeks truth in the ecopolitical arena, with the primary goals of helping to bring the "War on Terror" to an end and a new dawn of Honest Money. Jake is not a Populist Party member. Visit Jake's website at http://www.nolanchart.com/author481.html
More Articles from Jake Towne
List of Sources
(1A) The IRS Tax Code. The IRS strangely recommends visiting Cornell University to view the code and they are correct, it's easier to view. http://www.irs.gov/taxpros/article/0,,id=98137,00.html#irc
(1B) The IRS Tax Code. Easier to search than the IRS or Cornell version. http://www.fourmilab.ch/uscode/26usc/
(2) The Great IRS Hoax, Chapter 5. http://famguardian.org/Publications/GreatIRSHoax/GreatIRSHoax.htm
(3) America: Freedom to Fascism. Recommended free movie. http://freedocumentaries.com/film.php?id=199
(4) IRS 1040 instructions p2/161, http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040.pdf
(5) Edwards, Chris. 2003. "10 Outrageous Facts About the IRS." Fact #7. http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=3063
(6) Marx, Karl. 1848. "Manifesto of the Communist Party" p. 21/44. http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/download/manifest.pdf
(7) Armstrong, Martin. 2008. It's Just Time. p. 12/77. Contemporary visit and extension of Kondratrieff cycles. http://www.contrahour.com/ItsJustTimeMartinArmstrong.pdf
(8) The Constitution of the United States of America. http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html
(9) Benson, Bill. "The Law That Never Was." http://www.thelawthatneverwas.com
(10) Tax Facts, #1 through #19. http://www.voluntarytax.info/tax_facts1.htm
(11) Brushaber vs. Union Pacific Railroad. US Supreme Court, 1916. http://supreme.justia.com/us/240/1/case.html
(12) Quinn, James. 2009. "GRAND ILLUSION - THE FEDERAL RESERVE" http://www.nolanchart.com/article6123.html
(13) White House. FY 2009 Budget. p. 35/342. http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2009/pdf/hist.pdf
(14) White House. FY 2009 Budget. p. 26/342. http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2009/pdf/hist.pdf
(15) White House. FY 2009 Budget. p. 59/342. http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2009/pdf/hist.pdf
(16) IRS 1040 instructions p91/161, http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040.pdf
(17) Paul, Ron. March 2008. "Intervening Our Way to Economic Ruin."
http://www.antiwar.com/paul/?articleid=12519
(18) Towne, Jake. January 2009. "Why Obama's Stimulus Plan Will Fail... and a Better Alternative." Idea #1. http://www.campaignforliberty.com/article.php?view=3
(19) Edwards, Chris. 2007. Testimony to House Budget Committee. p. 4/6 http://budget.house.gov/hearings/2007/02.16edwardstestimony.pdf
(20) Edwards, Chris. 2003. "10 Outrageous Facts About the IRS." Fact #2. http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=3063
(21) Towne, Jake. April 2009. "America's Military Empire." http://www.nolanchart.com/article6271.html
(22) Angier, Chuck. 2008. "Why a Fair Tax Won't Happen." http://www.nolanchart.com/article2776.html
(23) Internal Revenue Service, Data Book. 2008. p. 72/81. http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/08databk.pdf
(24) Internal Revenue Service, Budget-in-Brief. FY 2009. p. 2/14.
