Bedward Family - Commentary

What is Wrong with the Income Tax

Craig Bedward

It Indirectly Gives the Government Powers it is not Given by the Constitution

• The government attempts to control the free decisions we make by offering incentives to make certain choices and and penalizing others. A clearly immoral example of this is the marriage penalty, many married couples would pay less taxes if they just lived together unmarried.

• It is part of a communistic system of wealth redistribution, taking disproportionately from the rich and giving disproportionately to the poor. This is known in liberalese as a "progressive" tax. "A heavy progressive or graduated income tax" is the 2nd Plank of the Communist Manifesto.

• It allows government to control and silence the church. Churches cannot, for example, endorse specific candidates for office without having their 501(c)3 tax-exempt status threatened. But government cannot tax churches because it has no jurisdiction over them. It is prevented on two counts by the First Amendment: 1. Freedom of speech 2. Freedom of religion. But in fact, they stop both at the same time, outlawing freedom of speech from the pulpits of America, which should be one of the most protected spots. Interestingly, the power to threaten tax-exempt status is not applied even-handedly. Conservative organizations and churches are targeted for speaking out or running ads while at the same time liberal churches have featured Democratic candidates speaking from their pulpits without any retribution.

• Since these powers are not specifically enumerated in the Constitution, they are an illegal usurpation of power from the states and people, according to the Constitution.

It is Slavery

• Before you get your money, your "master" has already taken is due. He decides what the amount shall be. You only get any of your money because he decided not to keep it all. In principle, he controls ALL of it.

• The 18th amendment forbids slavery in the United States.

• See Free The Slaves.

It is Theft

When men get in the habit of helping themselves to the property of others, they cannot easily be cured of it. 

- New York Times editorial in opposition to the first income tax, 1909

It is Complicated

• The Internal Revenue Code is enormous and virtually incomprehensible, yet we are danger of fines and prison ("under penalty of perjury") if we do not comply with the IRS's interpretation of every word.
  

• No two people calculating the same persons tax will come up with the same answer. Oddly, it seems that no one even finds this unusual. Each year, agencies send sample cases to various tax preparers and use various tax software to see who gets a bigger refund. Why does it not strike as odd that they should not be different in the first place. If it is the difference between being legal and illegal, one would think that there would be a "right" or "legal" answer. How are we supposed to get the right answer, under penalty of law, if the professionals can't even agree what the answer is?

"The government has the nerve to tell the people of the country, 'You figure out how much you owe us, and we can't help you because our people don't understand it either; and if you make a mistake, we'll make you pay a penalty for making the mistake." Ronald Regan, AP news release, 1984.

 

"I am a mathematician, not a philosopher." Albert Einstein upon being given a copy of the IRS form 1040.

It Invades Our Privacy

• The government has no business knowing how much money you make, spend, borrow, lend, or save. For some reason, most people are not distressed by the fact that big brother is looking over our shoulder every time money goes in or out. And if you fail to report it properly, you could be penalized or even imprisoned.
  

• Consider: What if the government decided to tax sexual activity. You would be required to keep records of all sexual activity and submit it to the government at the end of the year. Would you consider that to be an invasion of privacy? Why then do you not consider the monitoring of your money similarly? We have been conditioned.
  

• The 5th amendment states that you do not have to provide any information that may be self-incriminating. That is to say, it is not your responsibility to provide information that could be used against you. Yet, at the bottom of the federal tax forms, you sign your name "under penalty of perjury" that you have supplied complete and accurate information.

It is Unnecessary

The Constitution did not allow for an income tax and the country operated just fine for 137 years without it. All of the Constitutionally-defined functions of the federal government can be carried out with the original Constitutional duties and excise taxes.