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Another observation concerning
H.R. 25, the alleged Fair Tax.
By John William Kurowski, Founder American
Constitutional Research Service
Another objection to H.R. 25, the alleged
FairTax, is its attempt to resurrect a socialist type of tax allowable under the
Articles of Confederation -- a general across the board tax based upon wealth in
which each member state agreed to contribute into the common treasury in
proportion to assessed wealth.
Article VIII. of the Articles of Confederation states:
“All charges of war, and all other expences that shall be incurred
for the common defence or general welfare, and allowed by the united states in
congress assembled, shall be defrayed out of a common treasury, which shall be
supplied by the several states in proportion to the value of all land within
each state, granted to or surveyed for any Person, as such land and the
buildings and improvements thereon shall be estimated according to such mode as
the united states in congress assembled, shall from time to time direct and
appoint.”
But this kind of tax, a general tax based upon wealth by which the various
member states agreed to contribute into the common treasury under the Articles
of Confederation, was rejected during the Convention of 1787 and protection was
afforded against it by a new rule requiring the general tax to be apportioned
among the states and basing each state's share, not upon wealth, not upon
“income”, but upon each state’s number of representatives in Congress---in other
words representation with proportional obligation -- the new rule
for a general tax which socialists and the friends a profligate big government
hate with a passion because it is an antidote to a spendthrift big government
and takes the socialist sting out of a general across the board tax upon wealth
in which member states are to contribute into the common treasury.
Although H.R. 25 does not calculate each state’s share of the tax upon its
assessed land value as done under the Articles of Confederation, it attempts to
accomplish the same socialist objective by calculating the contributions of each
member state by the value of property sold and its economic enterprises as
reflected in business transactions within each particular state, and is, without
question, a general wealth based tax which the wise Framers agreed, and those
ratifying our Constitution agreed, may be laid among the states, but requires an
apportionment based upon each state’s number of representatives in Congress
Assembled, which was an important compromise during the Convention of 1787!
H.R. 25 is another attack upon federalism, attempts to accomplish indirectly
what the Constitution was intended to forbid directly, and seeks to establish a
socialist friendly type of wealth based tax in which the most productive member
states in the Union would be compelled to carry the burden of taxation while the
least productive states may feed from the public trough using their vote without
contributing in proportion to their voting strength.
In harmony with the new rule of apportionment agreed to by the ratification of
our Constitution, and when the various states are required to contribute into
the common treasury in a general tax such as H.R. 25 is, Congress is required to
determine a total sum needed to be collected under the general tax and then
notify each member state of its share of the total amount to being collected,
basing each state’s apportioned share on its allotted number of representatives,
and, when each state`s share of the total being collected is raised and
deposited with the Treasury of the United States, the tax is to be suspended in
those states having paid their apportioned share of the general tax being
collected.
Now, how does one confirm the historical truth of this matter, and, was this the
intention of the framers and ratifiers of our Constitution? Well, we can do this
by reading from the state ratification documents as to what the founders
intended with regard to the various member states contributing into the common
treasury in a general direct tax.
.
EXAMPLE:
Ratification of the Constitution by the State of New Hampshire
“Fourthly That Congress do not lay direct Taxes but when the money arising
from Impost, Excise and their other resources are insufficient for the Publick
Exigencies; nor then, untill Congress shall have first made a Requisition upon
the States, to Assess, Levy, & pay their respective proportions, of such
requisitions agreeably to the Census fixed in the said Constitution in such way
& manner as the Legislature of the State shall think best and in such Case if
any State shall neglect, then Congress may Assess & Levy such States proportion
together with the Interest thereon at the rate of six per Cent per Annum from
the Time of payment prescribed in such requisition- ”
But were the above stated intentions generally understood and agreed to by the
founders and then practiced by actual legislation for a general tax which would
confirm such intentions? Well, let us read from the legislative Acts in which
the general tax is involved:
APPORTIONMENT OF A DIRECT TAX TO RAISE A TOTAL OF $ 2 MILLION TREASURY
DEPARTMENT MAY 25TH 1798
An Act to lay and collect a direct tax within the united states [1st direct
tax July 14, 1789 for $2 million and each state’s share of the $2million being
raised.]
An Act to repeal the internal taxes April 3rd, 1802
An Act for the assessment and collection of direct taxes, July 22, 1813
Act laying a direct tax for $3 million August 2, 1813, and each state’s
share of the tax
Section 7 of direct tax of 1813 allowing states to pay their respective
quotas and be entitled to certain deductions.
And, for a $20 million direct tax being imposed upon the states in 1861, and the
amounts required to be paid by each of the various states,
CLICK HERE
Bottom line: the only stinking tax reform we
need is for the people to demand their employees in Washington add the following
words to our Constitution, bringing us back to our Nation’s original tax plan:
The Sixteenth Amendment is hereby repealed and Congress is henceforth forbidden
to lay ``any`` tax or burden calculated from profits, gains, interest, salaries,
wages, tips, inheritances or any other lawfully realized money
To see what freedom loving Americans are promoting with regard to raising a
federal revenue,
CLICK HERE and go to “Taxes”.
Those who are unfamiliar with our Founding Fathers original tax plan, as they
intended it to work, a plan which also includes a specific method to extinguish
an annual deficit,
CLICK HERE and scroll down to :
American Constitutional Research Service Before the
Committee on Ways and Means
United States House of Representatives
June 1995
The strength of our constitutional system is found in the people’s will to
rise up and defend their constitution--- it is not found in a piece of paper
which merely guarantees the right to rise up.
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