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A world without income taxes (Can it be done?)
Washington Times ^ | 10/10/2012 | Richard Rahn

Posted on 10/10/2012 6:42:19 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

Why should the federal government bother to impose taxes when it can use the Federal Reserve to “print” all the money it needs to pay its bills? Last year, the Fed bought 77 percent of all of the government’s new debt, which is the equivalent of printing money. The government borrowed almost 40 cents for each dollar it spent, with the Fed printing 30 cents of each dollar spent through its bond purchases (creating new money) — an amount equal to about 7 percent of gross domestic product.

What would happen if the Fed printed enough money each year to cover the cost of the federal income tax of approximately $1.4 trillion? Most people who have taken a course in economics know that it ultimately would result in a high rate of inflation. Inflation occurs when the growth in the money supply is greater than the increase in real goods and services. Changes in the number of times the same dollar is spent in a year (which economists call the velocity of money) also can cause apparent inflation and deflation.

Both the Fed and the European Central Bank have, in essence, announced they are going to create whatever quantity of money they think will be required to increase employment, with the claim that we do not need to worry about inflation. Many monetary economists disagree, for good reasons. For example, former International Monetary Fund economist Warren Coats, who has a major role in creating many central banks and currency boards around the world, wrote last month: “The Federal Reserve’s latest round of quantitative easing (QE3) is not likely to help the U.S. economy’s recovery, but increases the risks of new asset bubbles and inflation.”

One can envision a world where there is both apparent price stability and no income taxes.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Government
KEYWORDS: incometax; taxes
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1 posted on 10/10/2012 6:42:24 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Yes, in a world without income...............


2 posted on 10/10/2012 6:43:43 AM PDT by Red Badger (Is it just me, or is Hillary! starting to look like Benjamin Franklin?.................)
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To: SeekAndFind

3 posted on 10/10/2012 6:46:00 AM PDT by DuncanWaring (The Lord uses the good ones; the bad ones use the Lord.)
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To: SeekAndFind
One can envision a world where there is both apparent price stability and no income taxes.

I can also envision a world in which unicorns turn food into Skittles.

But just because I can envision it, doesn't mean it's going to happen.

4 posted on 10/10/2012 6:48:06 AM PDT by DuncanWaring (The Lord uses the good ones; the bad ones use the Lord.)
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To: Red Badger

How did the government of the USA get its revenue prior to the 16th Amendment to the Constitution?


5 posted on 10/10/2012 6:48:59 AM PDT by SeekAndFind (bOTRT)
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To: DuncanWaring

How did the government of the USA get its revenue prior to the 16th Amendment to the Constitution?


6 posted on 10/10/2012 6:49:40 AM PDT by SeekAndFind (bOTRT)
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To: SeekAndFind

Tariffs and excise taxes...............


7 posted on 10/10/2012 6:55:22 AM PDT by Red Badger (Is it just me, or is Hillary! starting to look like Benjamin Franklin?.................)
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To: SeekAndFind

Yes. Just not the way the retard who wrote this thinks...

Reduce the size and scope of the FedGov to strictly it’s Art 1 Sec 8 responsibilities and you could run the whole shooting match off user fees and excise taxes.

Especially once you start selling off the FedGovs current ill gotten assets.


8 posted on 10/10/2012 6:58:33 AM PDT by Dead Corpse (I will not comply.)
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To: SeekAndFind

The truth is... the Federal Reserve is NOT FEDERAL..
It is a private for profit Bank.. OWNED not completely but partially by FOREIGNERS..

And creates currency out of NOTHING.. Fiat Currency.. Magic Bucks.. that it LOANS to the American people that MUST PAY back WITH interest..

Did I say Magic Bucks.. Fiat Currency?..
Nevermind Most Americans could care less..
Americans are pretty much like blond teenaged girls that have no idea where the “MONEY” comes from..
OR EVEN CARES.. but would get pretty bitchy if it ((STOPS))..


9 posted on 10/10/2012 6:59:20 AM PDT by hosepipe (This propaganda has been edited to include some fully orbed hyperbole..)
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To: Red Badger

RE: Tariffs and excise taxes...............

Well, there ya go...


10 posted on 10/10/2012 7:02:41 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind
Since the original meaning of 'income' in this country was goods coming into the country and NOT taxes on the wages of labor, I'd be happy with a world that would stop trying to redefine words to suit their own agenda.

-----

Can a power, granted for one purpose, be transferred to another? If it can, where is the limitation in the constitution? Are not commerce and manufactures as distinct, as commerce and agriculture? If they are, how can a power to regulate one arise from a power to regulate the other? It is true, that commerce and manufactures are, or may be, intimately connected with each other. A regulation of one may injuriously or beneficially affect the other. But that is not the point in controversy. It is, whether congress has a right to regulate that, which is not committed to it, under a power, which is committed to it, simply because there is, or may be an intimate connexion between the powers. If this were admitted, the enumeration of the powers of congress would be wholly unnecessary and nugatory. Agriculture, colonies, capital, machinery, the wages of labour, the profits of stock, the rents of land, the punctual performance of contracts, and the diffusion of knowledge would all be within the scope of the power; for all of them bear an intimate relation to commerce. The result would be, that the powers of congress would embrace the widest extent of legislative functions, to the utter demolition of all constitutional boundaries between the state and national governments. When duties are laid, not for purposes of revenue, but of retaliation and restriction, to countervail foreign restrictions, they are strictly within the scope of the power, as a regulation of commerce. But when laid to encourage manufactures, they have nothing to do with it. The power to regulate manufactures is no more confided to congress, than the power to interfere with the systems of education, the poor laws, or the road laws of the states.
Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution

11 posted on 10/10/2012 7:06:09 AM PDT by MamaTexan (I am a Person as Created by the Laws of Nature, not a person as created by the laws of Man)
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To: SeekAndFind

Tariffs, often called customs, were by far the largest source of United States federal revenue from the 1790s to the eve of World War I, when they were surpassed by income taxes.....


12 posted on 10/10/2012 7:13:34 AM PDT by Red Badger (Is it just me, or is Hillary! starting to look like Benjamin Franklin?.................)
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To: Red Badger

So, this country survived and even thrived and grew ( and even defeated Spain in a war ) for nearly 150 years without the income tax?

Who woulda imagined ( not even John Lennon could ).


13 posted on 10/10/2012 7:15:33 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind
If they scaled back the operation to absolute minimum, it could work.
No new value is created by printing money, if you print too much, value is taken from the cash already out there, no matter where it's hidden.
On the other hand, as the economy grows, we need more money in circulation to match the value of goods and services, to make sure there is enough for the economy to work.
That's the delicate balance act that the Fed used to perform, until Bernanke started running the presses 24/7.

14 posted on 10/10/2012 7:31:18 AM PDT by BitWielder1 (Corporate Profits are better than Government Waste)
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To: SeekAndFind

That’s a rhetorical question, right?


15 posted on 10/10/2012 8:01:25 AM PDT by DuncanWaring (The Lord uses the good ones; the bad ones use the Lord.)
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To: DuncanWaring

Yes it is. But most people seem to believe that the answer is ‘NO’.


16 posted on 10/10/2012 8:04:02 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

As I recall, there was perpetual yelling and screaming about the tariffs. Some wanted lower. Some wanted higher. It got jerked around left and right depending on which party had control of the Congress.


17 posted on 10/10/2012 8:21:40 AM PDT by AceMineral (Will work for money.)
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To: AceMineral

Actually, if you look at tariff policy during the 1800’s, particularly before the Civil War, the disagreement was between North and South. The North wanted high tariffs to protect its developing manufacturing industries. The South wanted low tariffs to facilitate its international trade in agricultural commodities (cotton, tobacco, naval stores) as well as have the option to purchase foreign manufactured goods instead of tariff protected high cost manufactured goods from the North. In essence, the North used high tariffs, as well as control of the banking system (which controlled the allocation of capital), to maintain economic hegemony over the South.

Today’s politically correct historians will not agree but economic factors may have been more important than slavery in causing the Civil War. Southerner’s hated the high tariffs and the control New York banks and the Boston merchants exercised over access to capital and control of shipping.

The North today benefits from low tariffs as it has shed most of its labor intensive manufacturing. The low tariff policies of the past 20 years have served to destroy low wage unskilled non union assembly manufacturing in the South (textiles, apparel, furniture, consumer goods) while enriching Wall Street which has exported capital instead of investing in the USA. For most of US history Wall Street (i.e the banking cartel of the North) has ultimately prevailed in dictating tariff and economic policy for the nation. The creation of the Federal Reserve in 1913, along with the adoption of the 16th Amendement establishing the federal income tax in the same year, assured the New York banking cartel essentially institutionalize Wall Street control over the banking system and capital allocation.


18 posted on 10/10/2012 8:48:38 AM PDT by Soul of the South
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To: SeekAndFind

We’re all adults.

We can get the job done without thumbing through one another’s bank accounts, property holdings, retirement plans and charitable gifts.

In fact..at this point I think its pretty safe to say ..the Income Tax has about run its course. Until we do something about this..we can all only expect more of the same...

Ten Planks of Communism

2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.

Misapplication of the 16th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, 1913, The Social Security Act of 1936.; Joint House Resolution 192 of 1933; and various State “income” taxes. We call it “paying your fair share”.

http://www.uhuh.com/nwo/communism/10planks.htm


19 posted on 10/10/2012 9:48:37 AM PDT by mo (If you understand, no explanation is needed. If you don't understand, no explanation is possible.)
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To: hosepipe

Im gonna stop collecting my $750 a month ss check that i worked 45 years for i can see now i’m breaking the gov, i’ll just hop a freight down to Florida, sleep in the weeds only got a few years left anyway eat outa dumpsters spend my days in the library, panhandle for a little t-bird then sleep on the beach underneath the stars maybe one of them big hurrricanes will carry me up to heaven, hope they don’t have no govment up there.


20 posted on 10/11/2012 1:12:53 AM PDT by niclayden
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