Posted on 04/12/2005 5:01:56 PM PDT by CHARLITE
"Congress shall create a Tax Code weighing more than the combined poundage of the largest member of the House and the largest member of the Senate, plus a standard musk ox." Article I, Section VI of the Constitution of the United States (according to "Dave Barry Hits Below the Beltway")
It's that time of year again. Dig out the receipts showing every possible legal deduction. Find all those canceled checks proving that you paid all those doctor bills last year. Add up the mileage for all those business-related trips you took. Put it all into a shoebox, take it down to a $300-per-hour CPA firm and hope they get it right this year.
Under no circumstances should you contact actual employees of the IRS about anything, since one out of every three questions they answer will be wrong.
Do you remember when Ronald Reagan held up those reams of paper during his State of the Union address? Well, that was nearly twenty years ago, and it is even more convoluted and unintelligible now than even the Gipper could have imagined.
In 1913, when the tax on productivity, fondly known as the "income tax," was conceived, someone in Congress suggested that the 16th Amendment should include a clause prohibiting the new tax rate from rising above two percent. Other members derisively scoffed, "Two percent? Don't be ridiculous! It will never rise that high!"
Fast forward to the 21st century. Federal spending is out of control on a scale those congressional representatives of yesteryear could not have imagined in their wildest dreams. Every form of productivity known to exist is taxed until there is little incentive to produce anything -- all to pay for pork barrel spending, unconstitutional social programs and fiscal ponzi schemes designed for the sole purpose of redistributing hard-earned wealth.
We have taxes on our earned income, capitol gains taxes on our investments, and taxes on virtually everything we use for work or play. And finally, when life is done, we have the death tax, which, though it is being phased out to temporary repeal in 2010, will be back with a vengeance in 2011. Surprise! And just when you thought it was safe to die.
Meanwhile, an underground cash economy of drugs, prostitution, pornography and other vices thrives in America, with its purveyors contributing little or nothing to the overall operation of the country. Foreign tourists travel to the United State every year, leaving behind nothing for the federal coffers, which are left to us -- we, the people -- to fill with the first fruits of our labor. And all the while, corporate income taxes are passed along to us, the consumers, in the form of higher prices. Because, you see, corporations don't pay taxes; people pay taxes.
Yes, it is that time of year again. The roses are beginning to bloom and spring is in the air; but no one notices because we are all so frustrated and angry at having to subject ourselves to a tax system we can't begin to understand.
It is the season when every American taxpayer should be demanding a brand new tax code, because the one we have is broken. I don't mean it is in need of reform. I mean that it is broken: irretrievably, irreconcilably, unequivocally unworkable and broken -- beyond repair. Ninety years of tinkering is enough. Scrap it. Destroy it. Replace it with a national consumption tax.
There are only a couple of really hard-charging point people in Congress on this issue. So, unless you live in the 7th Congressional District of Georgia, where U.S. Rep. John Linder is your congressman, or the 5th Congressional District of Iowa, where the ever-outspoken Steve King is your representative, you need to write to your congressperson and demand that he/she give us the Fair Tax (web site)
Let's turn the season to be angry into the season to stop and smell the roses.
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Doug Patton is a freelance columnist who has served as a speechwriter for conservative candidates, elected officials and public policy organizations at the federal, state and local levels. His weekly column can be read in newspapers across the country and on selected Internet web sites. Readers can e-mail him at dpatton@neonramp.com.
One, two, three, four...
Hrmm!
One, two, (one, two, three, four!)
Let me tell you how it will be;
There's one for you, nineteen for me.
'Cause I’m the taxman,
Yeah, I’m the taxman.
Should five per cent appear too small,
Be thankful I don't take it all.
'Cause I’m the taxman,
Yeah, I’m the taxman.
(if you drive a car, car;) - I’ll tax the street;
(if you try to sit, sit;) - I’ll tax your seat;
(if you get too cold, cold;) - I’ll tax the heat;
(if you take a walk, walk;) - I'll tax your feet.
Taxman!
'Cause I’m the taxman,
Yeah, I’m the taxman.
Don't ask me what I want it for, (ah-ah, mister Wilson)
If you don't want to pay some more. (ah-ah, mister heath)
'Cause I’m the taxman,
Yeah, I’m the taxman.
Now my advice for those who die, (taxman)
Declare the pennies on your eyes. (taxman)
'Cause I’m the taxman,
Yeah, I’m the taxman.
And you're working for no one but me.
Taxman!
That would be a great name for a band.
The word "ponzi" should be capitalized because it is a surname.
That would be a great name for a band."
....also a great new name for Teddy Bear; - Senator Standard Musk Ox from Chappaquiddick.
Keep on saying this until the idiot RAT leftists finally understand it.
All taxes are paid by the final user!
ol' hoghead
Stevie Ray rules!
Except that's the Beatles, yo. ;)
I didn't know the Beatles did it. Just to make sure the version Stevie Ray Vaughn did was the same song, I just listened to my SRV Greatest Hits CD. It was almost verbatim, but it was slightly different.
Stevie Ray still rules, yo!
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