John Kozlowski

One of the driving forces that formed our nation was the protest over an unfair tax system. It was obvious to the founders that any involuntary tax was equivalent to forcing people to work as part-time slaves of the government. They developed a Constitution that allowed a free people to be free of taxes.

They set in place two principles to ensure the citizens were not enslaved to the government.

First, they limited the size and function of the federal government. Compassion comes from people. Commerce is a function of businesses. Local governments provide services. The federal government was to have NO role in these areas. With very little for the federal government to do, very few funds were needed.

Second, they established very limited ways for the federal government to raise revenue. Funds would normally be provided by excise taxes and import duties. As is true today, those taxes alone could provide all that was necessary to fund a limited federal government. When necessary, such as occurred in the time of war, additional funds could be raised by sending a bill to each state in proportion to their population. Each state could choose its own method of raising the additional revenue for the federal government. These are the methods defined by the Constitution.

These were very wise policies. For most people there would be no need to deal with federal taxes. Once you owned something, it was yours. There were no continual taxes for owning property. The states were well motivated to ensure a limited federal government since they did not want revenue to leave the state.

It was the sixteenth amendment, in 1913, that made federal income taxes constitutional. From that point on, the federal government had the power to tax and grow into the monstrosity that it is today. We abandoned the principles on which we were founded.

The idea of abolishing the IRS may sound good, but if a flat tax or national sales tax still exists, we will still have ‘IRS Lite.’ The only reason we hear politicians make these suggestions is so they can sound like they are doing something. Real reform will only come with the shrinking of government and the elimination of federal taxes.