Well, to answer your question, there was a time in our country when everyone, even the unemployed, were expected and required to contribute an equal share in meeting the expenses of government. A wonderful example of this principle is exhibited in the public laws of Maryland’s Dorchester County, under which all able bodied residents of the county above twenty and under fifty years of age were “compelled to labor two days at least in every year in repairing the roads of said county, with the privilege, however, of furnishing a substitute or paying to the road supervisors seventy-five cents for each day such person may be summoned to labor, the money thus paid to be expended in repairing the roads.”
And the law went on to indicate that “anyone neglecting or refusing to perform such labor, or to provide a substitute, or to pay seventy-five cents per day for each and every day he may be summoned to work, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon trial and conviction before a Justice of the Peace, shall be fined seventy-five cents for each day`s delinquency and costs, and shall stand committed until the fine and costs are paid.”___ SEE SHORT vs. STATE OF MARYLAND, decided February 27th, 1895, upholding the law and not violating (a) the 13th or 14th Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, or (b) the 40th section of Art. 3 of the Constitution of Maryland.
What I advocate is an end to a federal tax calculated from a working person’s earned wage. In its place a federal tax imposed on specifically selected articles of luxury would be far more fairer and is in harmony with our founders thinking.
Selecting specifically chosen articles of consumption, and placing a specific amount of tax on each article determined to be a luxury, not only protects a wage earner from an onerous tax, but allows each citizen to contribute their share of taxes in the manner they spend their money.
This is eluded to in Federalist No 21:
”The amount to be contributed by each citizen will in a degree be at his own option, and can be regulated by an attention to his resources. The rich may be extravagant, the poor can be frugal; and private oppression may always be avoided by a judicious selection of objects proper for such impositions. “
It should also be noted that the use of this type of tax allows the market place to determine the limit of tax placed upon each article.
”It is a signal advantage of taxes on articles of consumption that they contain in their own nature a security against excess. They prescribe their own limit; which cannot be exceeded without defeating the end proposed, that is, an extension of the revenue. When applied to this object, the saying is as just as it is witty, that, "in political arithmetic, two and two do not always make four .’’ If duties are too high, they lessen the consumption; the collection is eluded; and the product to the treasury is not so great as when they are confined within proper and moderate bounds. This forms a complete barrier against any material oppression of the citizens by taxes of this class, and is itself a natural limitation of the power of imposing them.” ___ Fed. No. 21
Hamilton’s reasoning was proven correct when Congress decided to place an outrageous 10 percent “luxury” tax on a number of articles considered to be luxury under the “Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990”
SEC. 11221. TAXES ON LUXURY ITEMS.
“`SEC. 4001. PASSENGER VEHICLES.
`(a) IMPOSITION OF TAX- There is hereby imposed on the 1st retail sale of any passenger vehicle a tax equal to 10 percent of the price for which so sold to the extent such price exceeds $30,000.
`SEC. 4002. BOATS.
`(a) IMPOSITION OF TAX- There is hereby imposed on the 1st retail sale of any boat a tax equal to 10 percent of the price for which so sold to the extent such price exceeds $100,000.
`SEC. 4003. AIRCRAFT.
`(a) IMPOSITION OF TAX- There is hereby imposed on the 1st retail sale of any aircraft a tax equal to 10 percent of the price for which so sold to the extent such price exceeds $250,000.
`SEC. 4006. JEWELRY.
`(a) IMPOSITION OF TAX- There is hereby imposed on the 1st retail sale of any jewelry a tax equal to 10 percent of the price for which so sold to the extent such price exceeds $10,000.
`SEC. 4007. FURS.
`(a) IMPOSITION OF TAX- There is hereby imposed on the 1st retail sale of any furs a tax equal to 10 percent of the price for which so sold to the extent such price exceeds $10,000
The luxury tax, particularly on boats, was found so onerous that sales dropped dramatically and the tax was repealed the following year!
I am convinced our Founders got the tax system right.
JWK
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez claims to be an advocate of hard working people living in the Bronx. If that is so, why is she not advocating an end to the unconstitutional “Temporary Victory Tax” of 1943, which began today’s un-apportioned direct tax on the property which working people have earned by the sweat of their labor?
