Return to Love
to Learn Place
Return to General
Homeschooling Message Board
Return to Special Days / Holidays
|
|
 |
Taxes Background
Very
early in the development of our country, taxes have energized
Christians to take action and secure freedom. Who doesn't
know that taxes led to the Declaration of Independence in 1776?
The War Between the States created the modern tax system
that we now call the Internal Revenue Service. Congress needed
money for war and re-created the Office of the Commissioner of
Revenue (Roy G. Blakey and
Gladys C. Blakey, The Federal Income Tax. NY: Longmans,
Green & Co., 1940, p. 4).
George S. Boutwell of Massachusetts was considered the nation's
first tax commissioner and worked with three clerks in a single
room in the Treasury Department. By January 1863, it grew
to 4,000 tax collectors. Today, "... the IRS has 123,000
employees. This makes it without question the largest law
enforcement agency in the United States. The IRS, for example,
has five times more employees than the Federal Bureau of Investigation
and four times more than the New York Police Department."
(David Burnham, A
Law Unto Itself: The IRS and the Abuse of Power, NY: Vintage
Books, 1989, p. 16). The
tax form during the War Between the States was four pages and,
even though much simpler than today's form, was still confusing.
Eight years after Lincoln's death, it was learned that this
wily, shrewd attorney overpaid his taxes by $1,250.
Initially, tax collectors received
a portion of the money the taxpayers paid. This incentive,
however, led to abuse and was abolished. At the end of the
War, customs on imported goods and excise taxes on tobacco and
alcohol were adequate to meet the financial needs of the government.
The first inheritance tax ended in 1870 and the modest income
tax was repealed in 1872. However, Congress kept the Office
of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue. In 1894, Congress
wanted another income tax, but the Supreme Court said it was unconstitutional
as it violated the apportionment provision of the 1787 Constitution.
What was this? The Constitution, Article I, Section
9, Subsection 4, protected our nation and its people from the
economic sins of Europe. It stated "No capitation"
or "direct" or head or income tax was to be instituted
in the United States.
"Finally, in 1913, President
Woodrow Wilson turned his back on the Founding Fathers and sought
to repeal the Constitution. He succeeded, and with the Sixteenth
Amendment the federal income levy became legal ... The new federal
income tax rate was set at 1 percent, with a 7 percent ceiling,
and was only enforced against those rich enough to qualify ...
In fact, by the outbreak of World War II in 1941, only one in
seven wage-earners even filed with the government." (Martin L. Gross, A Call for Revolution:
How Government is Strangling America and How to Stop It, NY:
Ballantine Books, 1993, p. 58). During
the debates on Wilson's tax plans, one congressman dared to ask
what if "they" begin taxing us instead of just the rich?
He was loudly shouted down. Later, another asked what
if the income tax rate rose above 7 percent? He was laughed
at, ridiculed, and mocked being told that the American people
would never allow or stand for such a thing to happen. Today,
our tax rate is much, much higher and yet God's tax or tithe is
only 10%! As Dr. R. J. Rushdoony states in Christianity
and the State (p. 33), "... state welfare programs have
worked to displace Christian charity, and the state sees itself
as the new agency of providence, replacing God. In Scripture,
the state has a specific ministry of justice (Rom. 13:1).
Its place in the plan of God is a real if limited one. The
state must be the servant of the Messiah; the modern state has
made itself the messiah. In so doing, it has repudiated
Christianity and the history of Christianity for ancient paganism."
How
can the Government claim more than God? How have Christians
allowed this to happen?
|
From spiritual faith to great courage; From courage to liberty; From liberty to abundance; From abundance to complacency; From complacency to apathy; From apathy to dependence; From dependence back again to bondange. Professor Alexander Tytler (when the USA still a British colony) |
The
Supreme Court said it was okay to levy income taxes in 1913 after
the 16th Amendment, forty-three states plus cities, towns, and
counties across our country have jumped on the band wagon. The
Founding Fathers had stopped oppressive taxation and our country
was free of it except for a short time during the War Between
the States and, unfortunately, until Woodrow Wilson.
hmmmmmmm .... wouldn't it be interesting
if our National Election Day and Income Tax Day were held on the
same day?
Interesting Quotes
| A socialist state has as its basic premise, theft, stealing from some to give to others. |
| The power to tax is the power to destroy. |
| Distrust as a demagogue the man who talks only of the wrong done by the men of wealth. Distrust as a demagogue the man who measures iniquity by the purse. |
| Each 1% increase in the federal tax burden results in a 1.8% decline in national output and a 1.14% decline in national employment — a loss of about 1.5 million jobs. |
| A great nation is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within. The essential causes of Rome's decline lay in her people, her morals .... her failing trade, her bureaucratic despotism, her stifling taxes, her consuming wars. |
| Unless we control our appetites, we cannot control our government. We certainly cannot expect it to limit itself, because it senses our appetites far more strongly than it is persuaded by our claims that we are tired of bureaucracy, taxes, and government interference. If the ultimate goal is government is to "do everything and change everying," really an infinite challenge, then it will require an infinite effort — in fact, infinite taxes, infinite paperwork, and infinite interference: infinite in the sense that there will be no limit to them, no place at which people say, "This is clearly all that we want or need," until the limits of exhaustion are reached. Infinite goals mean infinate controls. And infinite controls mean zero freedom. |
Something to Think About
|
Titanic sunk 15 April 1912 Results: |
April 15th — Income Tax
Day Results: |
Thoughts on Taxes
|
Accounts Receivable Tax Building Permit Tax Capital Gains Tax CDL license Tax Cigarette Tax Corporate Income Tax Court Fines (indirect taxes) Dog License Tax Federal Income Tax Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA) Fishing License Tax Food License Tax Food Tax Fuel permit tax Gasoline Tax (42 cents per gallon) Government School Tax Hunting License Tax Inheritance Tax Interest expense (tax on the money) Inventory tax IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax) IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax) Liquor Tax Local Income Tax Luxury Taxes Marriage License Tax Medicare Tax Property Tax Real Estate Tax Septic Permit Tax Service Charge Taxes Social Security Tax Road Usage Taxes (Truckers) Sales Taxes Recreational Vehicle Tax Road Toll Booth Taxes State Income Tax State Unemployment Tax (SUTA) Telephone federal excise tax Telephone federal universal service fee tax Telephone federal, state and local surcharge taxes Telephone minimum usage surcharge tax Telephone recurring and non-recurring charges tax Telephone state and local tax Telephone usage charge tax Toll Bridge Taxes Toll Tunnel Taxes Traffic Fines (indirect taxation) Trailer registration tax Utility Taxes Vehicle License Registration Tax Vehicle Sales Tax Watercraft registration Tax Well Permit Tax Workers Compensation Tax |
What happened?
Internet Field Trips
The Bureau of Engraving and Printing
Nifty site that helps with the understanding of USA money
US Mint
Fun way to learn about
USA money
Department of Treasury Kids Page
Not only helps with understanding USA money, but there are games,
fun tests, etc.
Federal Reserve System
From this site you can either click on the map or scroll down
to visit all the Federal Reserve Banks as well as learn about
the Board of Governors, history, purpose/ function of Federal
Reserve, press releases, testimonies/speeches, domestic/international
research, regulation/supervision, congressional reports, and much
more
Economic Education Federal Reserve System
Education Pages
(You can only click on those pages that are underlined). The following
are examples of what you will be able to find. The Bank of Boston
has grade specific to adult educational programs. The Bank of
Chicago has classroom activities, videos, other resources, ask
an economic specialist, and more. The Bank of Dallas has teacher/student/college/university
resources, "Everything you ever wanted to know about the
Federal Reserve" article, etc. The Bank of Minneapolis includes
a student essay contest, an economics challenge (test), "our
money" curriculum unit, teaching economics using the internet,
what is a dollar worth, and more.
How Currency Gets Into Circulation
USA Colonial Currency
A Project of the Robert H. Gore, Jr. Numismatic Endowment University
of Notre Dame, Department of Special Collections by Louis Jordan.
Learn about both paper and coin specie during the colonial period.
Most people know PrestonSpeed Publications brought the classic writings of G.A. Henty back into print. Entire families are once again enjoying Mr. Henty's work in books, audio books, and in The Captain. Demand the best by demanding PrestonSpeed Publications. Accept no substitutes!!
