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To: Mark was here

The only Fair Tax is to tax every citizen the same amount.

How is a captitation tax fair? The founders of this country certainly didn't see it that way. Quite the contrary. It is hard to distinguish which they held in more contempt, the capitation tax such as you hold to be so fair,

 

[Montesquieu wrote in Spirit of the Laws, XIII,c.14:]

 

Or income taxes such as we have today.

 

"If direct taxes upon the wages of labour have not always occasioned a proportionable rise in those wages, it is because they have generally occasioned a considerable fall in the demand for labour. The declension of industry, the decrease of employment for the poor, the diminuation of the annual produce of the land and labour of the country, have generally been the effect of such taxes....

Absurd and destructive as such taxes are, however, they take place in many countries."

- Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, 1776.

 

Bottomline, the fairness of a tax was perceived in terms of its capacity for abusiveness and oppression of the individual. The mode of taxation, more than even amount, was the basis of their views on taxation choosing consumption taxes as the least abusive of the individual and least threatening to individual liberty.

 

Patrick Henry, Virginia Ratifying Convention June 12, 1788:

 

Federalist #12:

Federalist #21:

"Imposts, excises, and, in general, all duties upon articles of consumption, may be compared to a fluid, which will, in time, find its level with the means of paying them. 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 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.


18 posted on 04/14/2006 4:09:21 PM PDT by ancient_geezer (Don't reform it, Replace it.)
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To: ancient_geezer

There is a certain brutal honesty in a master / slave relationship. Disguising the relationship by hiding behind clever schemes, may make people feel good, but that is about it. Fail to pay taxes, that is work for the Master, and it's off to the hot house for you. Just ask Richard Hatch, the survivor guy.


25 posted on 04/14/2006 4:21:41 PM PDT by Mark was here (How can they be called "Homeless" if their home is a field?.)
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To: ancient_geezer

bookmarking your informative post


51 posted on 04/15/2006 1:07:10 AM PDT by FBD (surf's up!)
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