The 16th Amendment: How the U.S. Federal Income Tax Became D.C.’s Favorite Political Weapon

The American Revolution was sparked in part by unjust taxation. After all, the colonists in Boston rebelled against Britain for imposing “taxation without representation,” and summarily tossed English tea into the harbor in protest in 1773.

Nowadays Americans collectively spend more than 6 billion hours each year filling out tax forms, keeping records, and learning new tax rules according to the Office of Management and Budget. Complying with the byzantine U.S. tax code is estimated to cost the American economy hundreds of billions of dollars annually – time and money that could otherwise be used for more productive activities like entrepreneurship and investment, or just more family and leisure time.

The majority of these six billion hours sacrificed by Americans to Washington each year goes to complying with a tax that didn’t even exist until 100 years ago – the federal income tax.

Worse still, this tax has become a political weapon for Washington to incentivize certain activities (home ownership, charitable giving, etc.) and to punish others. It’s a tax that follows Americans wherever they go in the world, and it’s one that was originally sold to the American people by President Woodrow Wilson as a means of “soaking the rich” during the so-called Gilded Age.

How did a country that was founded on the concept of limited government come to embrace such a draconian policy? And what does it say about Washington that tax reform has become synonymous with class warfare and corporate lobbyists?

Read on to learn the history of the 16th Amendment – which authorized the federal collection of an income tax – and how that power has ultimately meant the growth of Washington at the expense of just about everyone else.

Fixing this is a multi-step process. This isn't everything, but here's a quick few things that'll get us started.

STEP ONE:

- Eliminate deductions. All you get is: $10M deduction for you and your spouse (each). $5M deduction for each dependent you claim, who cannot thereby claim themselves and their own $10M deduction on their taxes. After that, it's a flat 10%.

- None of the aforementioned deductions are refundable. You CANNOT get anything 'back' that you did not pay in.

- Companies can deduct employee wages. MAYBE a very few other things. After that, it's a flat 10% on revenue, just like a normal person's individual taxes. (I wouldn't do this, but that leaves too big a loophole for an individual to start a 'company' and earn all their $$ through that, pay all their expenses through that, and thereby pay no taxes.)

- SS is fully paid out (into a 401k/IRA) to everyone not receiving payments, based on how much you've paid in, at a (CoL? Inflation? Flat 3, 4, 5%?) rate of return. Those currently being paid out are grandfathered in. One time TARP-style bailout. After that it's eliminated.

- Budget is required to be balanced, and passed each year. No more CRs, various funding bills, etc. Budget is passed, and additional spending CANNOT go more than 30% above that level. The ONLY exception is in case of a Congressional Declaration of War, on a Nation-State, and can boost ONLY DoD's $$ above the limit. No bullshit 'War on Terror' or 'on Drugs' to get around the limit. If a budget is not passed by a certain date (31DEC, perhaps?) then all Congressional salaries (including staffers) are suspended until the budget allows for it. NO BACKPAY. If it goes longer than 30 days, add more punitive measures.

- Only essential employees who work through a shutdown are entitled to backpay. Furloughed workers can, after the shutdown, use PTO to cover missed pay, if they so wish.

STEP TWO:

- Eliminate Amendments XVI and XVII.

- Congress passes a budget. That amount is then divided equally between all the CongressCritters (1/535). Each State is then responsible for remitting its share of the budget to the FedGov, quarterly. Each State can recover such $$ in any manner they so wish, income taxes, sales taxes, etc. (Property taxes, but no person can lose property for non-payment of taxes, only non-gov debts. But this is a whole 'nother issue.) Again, additional spending is limited as above. And, with State-elected Senators, additional spending will likely be VERY limited.

- Tariffs levied will go 100% towards paying off the US debt. Once that is completed, they can go to cash reserve/lowering of all States' share of the budget.

- User fees (park entrances, Federal paperwork, etc) may go to the agencies levying the fees. Once that reaches 20% of their budget for the year, all fees are reduced to $1 until 01JAN.

- Speaking of parks, that mostly means the Smithsonian and stuff. FedGov will begin selling off all land owned in the States that does not fall under military bases or 'needful buildings' or with State's Permission. States have first dibs on purchase, at an overly extremely reasonable rate. Revenues from this go towards debt payment until all land is under State control / Constitutional FedGov control.

- FedGov is allowed to build up a cash reserve/rainy day fund no greater than 10% of the previous year's GDP. This is only AFTER the debt is paid off.

So, definitely typed out way more than I initially intended. And this doesn't even get into eliminating many of the FedGov Depts, all the non-essential employees. Or Medicare/caid. And so on. Sure I forgot a couple things as well.

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