A couple years ago I gave up conspiracy theories as being a bad habit, but this video shows some things that do seem to be real and quite worrisome.
Featured comment by Justin:
I'm afraid this film is pure propaganda. The law that demands that we pay income tax is Title 26 United States Code §1. This law is supported by the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and has been sustained by the U.S. Supreme court, the supreme interpreter of the law. These people who claim that the I.R.S. won't tell them what law requires them to pay income taxes are either liars or utter morons. Every day the I.R.S. sends letters to tax cheats explaining exactly which laws they have broken. We have a Federal Circuit court entirely devoted to issues of this supposedly non-existent tax law.
The movie references an ad placed by an anti-tax advocate claiming that he would pay $50,000 to anyone who could show him the law requiring the payment of income tax. Well, lots of people, many law professors among them, showed him the law and requested their $50,000 reward. Of course, he wouldn't pay. He and others like him are snake oil salesmen who make loads of money off dupes who pay for seminars and booklets purportedly teaching them how to avoid paying taxes.
The really sad thing about this is that the tax burden in the U.S. is far lower than the tax burden in Europe. We should gladly contribute the modest portion we are required to pay. It is only greed an selfishness that makes people try to avoid paying their fair share. I really wish people would internalize John Donne's brilliant Meditation 17, and realize that the bell tolls for all of us.
Sincerely, Justin
... Others say other things. Just goes to show it is time to reinforce my old personal policy about never getting involved with or concerned with politics, it's a rat's nest of lies and contradictions and viewpoints and interests. So just ignore this. :)
Update: comment by Through The Lens:
The legal basis for income tax in the U.S. is explained in the Wikipedia article 'Income tax in the United States'.
Note, however, that this wasn't the main point of the video. Whether written in law or not, confiscation of any part of the fruits of one's labor is not what the founding fathers intended.
The rest of the video gives alarming examples of the path we are in (actually the U.S. but other countries will follow).
The thing is, of course, that even if there wasn't a law, it would take them five minutes to write one. But that does not make taxation right or wrong.
I have realized that taxation is not done by the government, it is done by the people. The government is the mind of the people, nasty as that is. And most people, while they hate to pay their own taxes, love getting things paid for by other people, especially those who have more, rightly or wrongly.
Under Bush I feel we are already under the beginning of Facism.
ReplyDeleteToo many religious people believe his ongoing lies and munipulations.
They vote with a one issue agenda, PRO LIFE and the hell with what everything else the party believes in.
Please provide them with a straightjacket as well.........
The legal basis for income tax in the U.S. is explained in the Wikipedia article Income tax in the United States.
ReplyDeleteNote, however, that this wasn't the main point of the video. Whether written in law or not, confiscation of any part of the fruits of one's labor is not what the founding fathers intended.
The rest of the video gives alarming examples of the path we are in (actually the U.S. but other countries will follow).
"The government is the mind of the people, nasty as that is."
ReplyDeleteWell, nasty it is! Imagine, GWB being the mind of the USA!!!
I mostly wish that income tax were fair and sensibly designed, THEN it'd be okay. But it isn't. The filthy rich living on rent and exploitation always use their high-placed influence to get taxed less and less. Just look at King GB's fiscal policy...
Indeed. I know otherwise intelligent and sensible people who are Dubya supporters. Like SF writer Orson Scott Card.
ReplyDeleteThe real unfairness about taxes is the progressive tax. The high-income people pay many many times the taxes of medium income people.
"taxation is not done by the government, it is done by the people. The government is the mind of the people, nasty as that is."
ReplyDeleteNasty for sure.
Become an anarchist. I am already. Peaceful variety, naturally.
No nasty taxation. No domination of my nasty mind by extraneous nasty minds.
At least that is the star I am aiming for.
(First baby step is to stop voting. Hear that, US of A?)
If you've ever driven down a road, don't complain about taxes. I do agree, in a general sense, that tax dollars are often used poorly and assessed unreasonably; but the contrary general principle, that therefore no money should be taken from me even though I live in and amid my society, does not follow. I regularly take advantage of the government for protection, services, and "the system" which made it possible for private and public concerns to build up the infrastructures we all use.
ReplyDeleteAmericans ("United Statians"?) are the LEAST taxed of any citizens in a developed industrialized nation on the planet, by a long shot. I find it no surprise we're also more likely to be victim of violent crime.
Don't know if you are being naive or suicidal or both. There is no way you can avoid politics, it certainly will get upon you.
ReplyDeleteThe video is just another piece of American extreme right paranoia, with all the demagogical resources, usual cinical justifications, etc. It is indeed funny, like that woman comparing the US constitution to the IRS code. Can anybody be more ridiculous and off the point? Of course they have different weight, she could compare the IRS with the Honda Accord shop manual, the point would be as strongly made. If there wasn´t a law there would be no code, no one would be put into jail, obviously. Like quoting the founding fathers as the Word to which everything must be compared.
I have personal experience with both systems (US small personal taxes, no public services, and the European welfare state). I would never even consider living in the US. People live in fear of everything (getting sick, losing their job, and above everything else, being victimised in a way or another by his "neighbour")
As a nest of liest etc. politics is no worse than any other human activity, really. And quite simple to understand if you think about society as a system that has to be organised and read a couple of books about the history of political thought.
Why is progressive tax unfair? You really think rich and poor should pay the same? Isn't that really what's unfair? As your assertion proves, fair and unfair are subjective valuations. I tend to be pragmatic, rather than idealistic. I find progressive taxation to be useful in changing society towards a better developed state, I see public education and equal opportunity policies as transforming society for the best. There is a human capital that would be lost otherwise, and would make us all poorer. Like the peace of mind that comes from feeling you are protected by a public health system, for instance, or feeling that you won't be abused all your life just because you were born poor or not too bright.
History is a good teacher, just compare how people lived in Europe a mere 150 years ago, before modern political systems (with progressive taxation, public services, minimum wages, holidasy and pensions etc) were established. I mean people, the majority of people, not the chosen few...
Say you get a couple of kids, and you get a house to have space for them. Then you work harder and longer to pay for the house. So you earn 30% more. Now imagine you go to the supermarket and buy your usual shopping, which usually comes to $100. Then the supermarket clerk tells you: "that'll be $130, thanks." You ask why, and he says that since you now earn more, obviously you have to pay more for the same thing. You'd call that fair?
ReplyDeleteMost of "the rich" are just very hard working people. The "priviledged few" are very few indeed. (I refer to the book The Millionaire Next Door for what the typical millionaire is like.)
I'm with Final. Taxes are useful in a society, but often shamefully mis-used. (A certain war-torn middle-east country comes to mind, Mr Bush...)
ReplyDeleteThe same could be said about human lives. :-(
Eolake, progressive taxes aknowledge the fact that those who have high incomes usually work far less to earn them, proportionately. And that their remaining wealth will always be clearly privileged. (It is said that it wouldn't be worth Bill Gates' time to stop if he found a $500 bill. Based on his average hourly income.) I think it is perfectly normal that people who barely make enough to live shouldn't be burdened with any taxes... that would then need to be redistributed to them as social aids! Of course, the law makes no distinction between someone who gets a fortune from the interests of his inherited bank accounts and real-estate benefits, and someone who worked all his life to BECOME rich!
It's not so much the system that is wrong, it's the reality dodging the founding principles. (I mean, in a "free" country!)
David, I'm afraid I have to tell you that not voting is a mistake. You show that you reject the System, but you are still submitted to it, and therefore it accomplishes nothing eventually. Since I have the age to do it, I always try to vote, to change things I disapprove. At the very least, you could vote systematically for the opposition, to undermine the alledged "legitimizing" scores of the rulers you don't like. That would make them think twice about their approval rate!
Non-voters are the reason why catastrophic people like Bush Jr or Sharon or Ahmadinejad manage to get elected. I have often voted for the opposition just to make a point... and the first time I did it, the point was actually made!
We may be but a drop in the ocean. But the ocean is made of nothing BUT drops! Stop thinking you are always alone, otherwise nothing will ever change. Every drop counts. "A single grain of rice can tip the scales." Once, a college election where I voted blank actually ended in a draw. With hundreds of votes! So, mine WOULD have made a difference, either way I wanted. Think about it... How many anarchists could very well have prevented Bush's re-election? Much more than were necessary, I'll bet.
"Most of "the rich" are just very hard working people."
I'm not sure about that, Eolake. Just because you've become rich by working (I'm assuming you're rich) doesn't exonerate the great number who have become very rich by extremely immoral ways. Lebanese politicians have comprised at least two of the world's biggest fortunes in the last 25 years. And if you saw the obscene display of power and squandered money over here, you definitely wouldn't consider ALL the rich people as honest and hard-working. Haven't you been following the financial scandals that follow GWB's close relations?
Of course, as long as those who should be held most accountable by the laws are precisely the people who make them, corruption will be the true ruler of the world. It just requires a bit more savoir-faire to pull off in "democracies".
One simple example : the syndicate of Company Managers in France seems to have a single goal, if you follow their activities and statements. And that is to constantly attempt to raise the work load and decrease the salaries. A few years ago, a law was voted (under the former socialist regime), bringing the weekly working time from 38 to 35 hours. The slogan was "35 hours paid 38". Well, specific deal after specific deal, today it's practically 38 hours paid 35 for most workers. "Either that, or the factories get moved to China, Bangladesh, etc." At the same time, there's scandal after scandal, about former bosses of companies that lost huge sums of money, laid off LOTS of workers... and these bosses (with their buddies) award themselves obscene "special farewell bonuses", amounting to millions. Added to their NORMAL salary and indemnities! The filthy rich are getting the vast majority deeply disgusted. Recent studies have shown that the average buying power of most citizens has been steadily declining for more than 15 years.
So, you're quite free to defend the deserved fruits of your hard labor, but if you try to also defend the notoriously rotten "white collars" (I believe, and many agree with me, that there are much more than you say), you're not gonna make too many friends. Most of the richest people seem very well to be utterly despikable. Maybe you're boycotting the news too much, because it's everywhere. (And depressing.)
How many times did the USA refuse to sign the Kyoto Protocol, and under what justification? Is the country, or the average citizen, getting any richer from all that "economic prosperity"? Nope. Meanwhile, events like Katrina, related to global warming, have brought misery to millions of "the system's outcasts".
Basically, the rich are constantly getting richer while the hard-working class gets poorer. The money/power system is being designed in a biased way, to screw the biggest possible number to the benefit of a select few. It's fundamentally unacceptable that there could be a country with billionaire leaders, where the AVERAGE wage is one or two dollars per day and per person.
I'll just conclude with one essential interrogation: Quid of the Enron/Andersen investigations? When was the last time any of you last heard about those unforgivable scandals? Me, I can't remember. Some time in 2002...
final identity said: "If you've ever driven down a road, don't complain about taxes."
ReplyDeleteThe question was about income tax. Confiscatory taxation is not needed to build and maintain paved roads.
I am not rich, I am comfortable.
ReplyDeleteNewspapers only report the despicable, so of course you'll get a distorted idea about the proportion of the rich who are unethical.
And in any case proportional income tax to fight that problem is like bombing a city to get rid of rats.
Well, if I can't send my Rambo-efficient cat in a commando operation, of play the magic flute, maybe I'd consider the Rumsfeld way. :-P
ReplyDeleteBio-warfare using tickling fleas could be a humane alternative, though.
Okay, so it seems I'm out of my league with Economics and fiscality. Which greatly vary with each country anyway. There's definitely a wide range of action methods to sort out socio-economic disparities. AND to counter morern world "legal tyrants".
Dear Eulake,they are controling the world because they are controling the money,the universal human currency;but if all the people will start sharing instead buying,they shall lose any mean to control us;I hope the human beings would be strong enough to live in perfect communion with themselves,(not in commmunism which was also "Their" control instrument),welcoming properly Jesus second coming.
ReplyDeleteWith great admiration and gratitude,yours Paul Alexandru Cazacliu artmanro@yahoo.com
Paul,
ReplyDeleteCommunism was just another of a long list of good ideas gone terribly wrong because of man's stupid selfishness. There can be no perfect human system, simply because humans are imperfect. The sensible goal is to build the best possible one.
Someone I know once said that Jesus was the first Communist. By his principles.
But he never became a dictator, because he was true to his principles.
"Power doesn't change people, it reveals them."
I've heard that the jailed Saddam Hussein is a very friendly and proper man. Same for famous terrorist Carlos. Their worst side had simply been neutralized. :-(
So if they jail Dubya, he will just become a friendly drunk who gives out nicknames and bungles adages.
ReplyDeleteOne can dream, right? :-)))
ReplyDeleteI think if you are getting tu use comparisons to stress and or prove a point of view you must choose them carefully. You are comparing the acquisition of goods with the contribution to a common effort. Obviously when you go to a supermarket you pay for something you get in return. When you pay taxes you do not buy any goods. Whether it is fair or unfair is extremely secondary to me. Is it fair or unfair that the same goods have different prices in different shops?
ReplyDeleteWhat is important is to establish a system that works. Taxation schemes do work, and have important effects beyond how the money is used. Taking more from the rich (and I doubt that your assesment of most of "the rich" being just very hard working people
is statistically true: I feel most labourers do work harder than Ken Lay or even honest dealmakers and high rank executives, fortunes are very seldom built by working) looks to me as the only way to increase the resources devoted to make life better for all of us. What would be the alternative? Getting more from the poor?
There are two different ways to collect money for the state: Progressive tax on income, or indirect taxes levied on goods and services. Both have supporters and enemies. Both work to a certain point and have good and bad side effects...
A few years ago, Lebanon instated a VAT on goods. 10% VAT, out of the blue. ALL goods, even though several types were supposed to be exonerated. (Yeah, right. NONE are, not even bread!)
ReplyDeleteThe argument, to an already very strained population, was that this would fix the budget crisis and national debt problem, and make everybody's daily life better, "so a little effort please, it's a fair tax, progressive with spending, sparing the poorest, etc."
As a result, the debt has grown from 30 to 40 billion US dollars. But not EVERYBODY has gotten poorer, if you catch my drift.
Taxes are not the main problem. Lousy and/or corrupt management are. First give us decent management, and THEN we shall see.
(Yeah, but WHO will give us THAT? Easier said than done.)