Free Republic

About a year ago two professors of law at Yale wrote an article titled Why (and how) to tax the super-rich which appeared in the LA Times. Mark Levin immediately responded to the article which proposed an annual “wealth tax” and identified Bruce Ackerman as a “Left wing disgusting professor at Yale Law as is Anne Alstott” ___ the two professors who wrote the article. I agree! But what I cannot understand is why Mark Levin now proposes to perpetuate a tax upon wealth under one of his “Liberty Amendments”, especially when our founding fathers rejected an unrestrained tax upon...

...“If government were a matter of will upon any side, [the constituents’], without question, ought to be superior,” Edmund Burke once said. “But government and legislation are matters of reason and judgment, and not of inclination; and what sort of reason is that in which the determination precedes the discussion, in which one set of men deliberate and another decide, and where those who form the conclusion are…miles distant from those who hear the arguments?” Burke further argued that “your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices...

Just for the record and to get down to some upsetting facts regarding California‘s 55 electoral college votes, the total share of federal taxes paid by the people of 18 states [New York, Texas, Illinois, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Washington, Connecticut, Maryland, Colorado, Arkansas , Nebraska, Delaware, Rhode Island, New Mexico, and Wyoming] works out to be a higher per capita amount then paid by the people of California. And yet, the state of California has an overwhelming 55 electoral college votes compared to any of these states! For example, and according to 2007 figures the people of...

If there is any one particular type of tax which has opened the door to abuse and oppression throughout the ages, that taxing power would be an unbridled direct tax levied upon the people. But don’t take my word for it, take note of what Representative Williams stated during a debate on Direct Taxes January 18th, 1797 "History, Mr. Williams said, informed them of the annihilation of nations by means of direct taxation. He referred gentlemen to the situation of the Roman Empire in its innocence, and asked them whether they had any direct taxes? No. Indirect taxes and taxes...

Here's the way I size it up. California was on pace to be on the borderline on July 1, 2009 and I can't imagine the last 9 months they grew enough to maintain that. Texas could gain 4, Arizona and Florida 2, Georgia, Utah, Nevada, South Carolina, and Washington gain 1 seat. Ohio loses 2, New York might lose 2, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, Louisiana, and California lose 1. Missouri and Rhode Island could lose 1.

A New Portrait of America, First 2010 Census Results Contact: Public Information Office 301-763-3691 Release InformationContact: Public Information Office 301-763-3691 News Conference Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2010 at 11:00 a.m. EST National Press Club, 13th floor Washington, D.C. Live WEBCAST will be available on event day. Dial-in number: 888-603-8938 Passcode: 2010 CENSUS Media Advisory: U.S. Census Bureau to Present A New Portrait of America, First 2010 Census Results Facts for Features: *Special Edition* 2010 Census and Apportionment Speaker Bios Gary Locke, Secretary of Commerce Rebecca Blank, acting deputy secretary, U.S. Department of Commerce Robert M. Groves, director, U.S. Census Bureau Webinar...

Washington (AP) - Southern and western states are poised to snatch more congressional seats from the rest of the country as Americans pursue open spaces and warmer climates....Texas stands to be the biggest winner, picking up as many as four seats, while Ohio could be the big loser, giving up as many as two seats, according to projections by two firms that specialize in political apportionment. California is in danger of losing a seat for the first time since it became a state, though experts disagree on the likelihood of that happening....Florida is expected to gain at least one seat...

Illegals may give state more clout Undocumented population may give California more seats in Congress Illegal immigration is channeling political clout to California and other border states from the Northeast and Midwest, according to a new report that predicts that California's undocumented population will equate to two seats in Congress following the 2010 Census. The Connecticut report predicts that California, Arizona, Texas, Florida and New Jersey will gain seats in Congress after the next Census because of their illegal immigrant populations. Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, and Ohio will each lose a seat because they have relatively few undocumented immigrants. New...

Immigrant-induced reapportionment is different from reapportionment caused when natives relocate to other states. Immigration takes away representation from states composed almost entirely of U.S. citizens and results in the creation of new districts in states with large numbers of non-citizens. The numbers are even larger in some districts — 43 percent of the population in California’s immigrant-heavy 31st district is made up of non-citizens, while in the 34th district, 38 percent are non-citizens. In Florida’s 21st district, 28 percent of the population is non-citizen, and in New York’s 12th district the number is 23 percent. At present it is not...

A CHALLENGE TO H.R. 25 [alleged fair tax] SUPPORTERS What part of our federal Constitution grants power to Congress to lay and collect a “sales tax”? I have been told by some proponents of H.R. 25 to read Article 1, Section 8, but, I do not see “sales tax” in the list of specific taxing powers granted in that part of the Constitution. I guess it’s safe to assume at this point in time the promoters of H.R.25 were pretending that a power was granted to Congress to lay and collect a “sales tax”. In addition, those who promote H.R....

Q: Do aliens count as "persons" under the 14th amendment's apportionment of representatives? This is an interesting recurring question I get every once in a while and, unfortunately, been too occupied to answer. There has been talk to change "persons" under section 2 of the 14th amendment to read "citizens." Michigan Republican Rep. Candice Miller introduced a constitutional amendment last year that would change the 14th amendment to allow only "citizens" to be counted instead of "persons." The section in question reads as follows: Representatives shall be apportioned among the several states according to their respective numbers, counting the whole...

American Constitutional Research Service The Fair Tax: attacks federalism, promotes democracy! It’s absolutely amazing that our Republican Party leaders and many political action groups, when it comes to factual information concerning taxation, “conservatism” and “tax reform“, are suspiciously silent to an important provision of our Constitution which the Founding Fathers agreed upon to provide protection against mob rule vote [democracy], a poison which now works to allow the spending of federal revenue without a proportional obligation in filling our national treasury. Republicans and political action groups who support H.R. 25 and promote it as being “conservative tax reform“ ignore how...

Massachusetts has lost thousands in population over the last two years, according to newly released U.S. Census numbers. But the numbers do more than signal an...exodus from the Bay State... It puts Massachusetts in danger of losing yet another congressional seat after 2010, when the House of Representatives is reapportioned. "It's discouraging," said Phil Johnston, chairman of the state Democratic Party. "It means we're losing political clout with the Congress, and it's not good." Since 1920, when Massachusetts had 16 representatives, the state has seen a steady decline, down to the current 10 representatives... "It would be likely we would...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

Every time I hear a member of the Congress of the United States refer to “fair share” with reference to direct taxation, I brace myself for the recital of some legislation intentionally designed to disburse the costs of government by identifying a specific class of individuals, and either placing the burden of taxation directly upon them, or identifying them as a privileged class and allowing them to escape the burden of taxation which other citizens are forced to pay. It also seems to be an unfortunate truth that Democrats in Congress are well known for using the phrase “fair share”...

I can already hear the chorus: We have too many politicians now! They already cost too much! Why would we want more of them? (and those will be the polite comments). The fact is, however, compared to the first half of our history, and to most of the rest of the major countries of the world, we currently have too few representatives for our population (see tables below). This idea is not particularly original; a quick search turned up the following article which says the same thing at more length and with more eloquence than I can muster; (THE REAL...