Geee Posted April 22, 2013 Share Posted April 22, 2013 Human Events: Although the federal government had successfully operated without an income tax for 124 years under the Constitution, the American people in 1913 chose to ratify the Sixteenth Amendment, giving Congress the “power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived.” It is reasonable to expect that the people would not have granted such a broad power to the federal government unless circumstances required it. So what prompted this desperate action? Why was an income tax suddenly necessary in America 100 years ago? In truth, it wasn’t needed at all. Total federal tax revenue was at an all-time high in 1913, and tax receipts that year were almost 25 percent higher than they were in 1909, the year Congress submitted the Sixteenth Amendment to the states for ratification. Moreover, there was no debt crisis. In 1909, the national debt was only 8.2 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP). By 1913, the debt-to-GDP ratio had actually dropped to 7.5 percent. In comparison, the nation’s debt-to-GDP ratio in 1791 was 37 percent, which resulted from the federal government’s assumption of all state debts incurred during the Revolutionary War. And despite this large debt, the federal government succeeded in paying it off entirely by 1835, without a tax on income. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valin Posted April 22, 2013 Share Posted April 22, 2013 @Geee “The current system is beyond redemption. It was amended in 1986 to 6 million words. It has been amended 14,000 times since then and is now 9 million words. There is no special interest or lobbyist left behind.” Steve Forbes...Rich 1%er White Guy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now