Congress should abolish all taxes. As step-by-step measures,
Congress should:
- enact a five-year tax cut of at least $2 trillion; the tax
cut bill should
- repeal the Bush and Clinton tax increases of 1990 and
1993, thus returning to two income tax rates, 15 and 28
per-cent;
- abolish the capital gains and estate taxes;
- create a $25,000 per household tax-free universal
savings account; and
- index the income tax brackets for real income growth so
that tax liabilities do not rise faster than Americans’
incomes;
- not allow states to unfairly tax the Internet;
- end the withholding tax;
- send an annual tax disclosure form to all taxpayers;
- require a two-thirds supermajority vote to raise taxes;
- enact an alternative maximum tax for individuals and
businesses; the MAXTAX should be set at 25 percent of gross
income and replace the filer’s income and payroll taxes;
- replace the income tax with a national sales tax and close
down the Internal Revenue Service; and
- refund taxes to Americans if tax revenue grows faster than
personal income.
|
The original federal income tax originally
imposed a tax of only 1 percent on incomes of $56,000 or
more, with a maximum of just 7 percent for incomes over $7
million (both dollar figures adjusted for inflation to
2001).
Strange how new taxes, once in place, begin to bleed more
and more people with higher and higher rates that kick in at
lower and lower levels.
-- Harry
Browne
|
Real tax reform begins with the recognition that taxation is
extortion, the seizing of income or property under threats of force
or violence. The American Revolution
(1776) was fought over tax rates of 3-5%. Americans today pay ten
times more than the amount our Founding Fathers took up
arms to fight. Acceptance of this state of affairs is un-American.
Thomas Paine, in his influential book Common Sense,
noted that Samuel warned
Israel (1 Samuel 8) that the king they desired would take one-tenth
of their income. This was intended as a terrifying threat of
monstrous tyranny. Today it would be called "tax-relief."*
God commanded, "Thou
shalt not steal." Today's politicians say, " . . .
except by majority vote." Acceptance of this state of affairs
is not only un-American, it
is immoral.
Social Security is a fraud.
It is just another tax, another source of general revenue.
All taxation violates
fundamental moral principles; all taxation is theft.
Next: Bureaucracies Galore
* This passage of
Scripture was also debated in the New York ratifying convention,
Friday, June 20, 1788. (Jonathan Elliot, Debates on the
Adoption of the Federal Constitution, Vol. 2, p. 216.)
|