Sunday, February 3, is the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the Sixteenth Amendment, which makes it the one hundredth birthday of the income tax. It has grown rather ill-tempered in its dotage.
Americans for Tax Reform commemorated the occasion by publishing a few fun facts about the income tax. Among other interesting statistics, the initial top tax bracket was only 7 percent, and it didn’t kick in until income reached a whopping $11.6 million in 2013 dollars. Only 358,000 people had to fill out 1040 forms at first, because the standard family deduction was an adjusted $93,000.
Over the past hundred years, the tax code has swelled from 400 pages to almost 74,000. The top rate is 39.6 percent; add in state and local taxes, and you’ve got the government soaking up over half of every marginal dollar earned by the Evil Rich. And the top bracket crashes down on those who earn over $450k, which is the new functional definition of a “millionaire.” Every new tax – from the income tax itself, to the Alternative Minimum Tax and its prospective stepchild, the “Buffett Rule” – is sold as a small levy on the vast wealth of millionaires. The AMT was only supposed to affect a couple of hundred people when it was implemented in 1969, but now it’s on the verge of grabbing 50 million taxpayers, if it’s not “fixed.” In the early years of the income tax, Americans were likewise assured that it would only slip a few dollars from the bulging wallets of the wealthy.
Allowing the government to sink its feeding tubes into the veins of American income has fueled astonishing government growth. That first itty bitty tax levy brought in a paltry $16.6 billion in revenue, adjusted for the past century of inflation. Today the income tax brings in $2.7 trillion. Government inevitably grows to fill, and exceed, the space made available for it.
When I was living in upstate NY and working, Between Fed inc tax, state income tax, property taxes, FICA, Medicare, sales taxes and all the "hidden taxes" (excise taxes, gasoline taxes) I estimated that the taxman took about 50% of my income. It still wasn't enough for the taxman. The current POTUS still wants more and still hasn't submitted a budget in four years that even his party would vote on. We all are just another executive order away to pay more in some form to pay more "fair share" to the taxman for income redistribution.
When I retired, I found I could live comfortable in Florida at 1/2 my pre retirement income.
When speaking of how we came so far, so fast in this country, Mr. Harvey describes the hardworking spirit of the American pioneer, manifesting destiny, blazing trails west, and not expecting pay for services not rendered. Supporting himself and his own.
But..
He did not mention 89 years of slave labor, nor the genocide of native American peoples and theft of their property.
No, the early pioneering American was not some hardworking model to look up to, they did a lot of things wrong back then and I just have a hard time looking into the past for answers when the status quo was slavery, murder and theft. Here , Paul is guilty of re-writing history or ignoring REALLY important facts to try to make his point. A trusted voice can be just as erroneous as an unproven one, trust is often misplaced.
[This message has been edited by tbone42 (edited 08-07-2014).]
When speaking of how we came so far, so fast in this country, Mr. Harvey describes the hardworking spirit of the American pioneer, manifesting destiny, blazing trails west, and not expecting pay for services not rendered. Supporting himself and his own.
But..
He did not mention 89 years of slave labor, nor the genocide of native American peoples and theft of their property.
No, the early pioneering American was not some hardworking model to look up to, they did a lot of things wrong back then and I just have a hard time looking into the past for answers when the status quo was slavery, murder and theft. Here , Paul is guilty of re-writing history or ignoring REALLY important facts to try to make his point. A trusted voice can be just as erroneous as an unproven one, trust is often misplaced.
You're also dwelling on only the negatives. EVERYONE did those same things, at the same time back then. The difference is that we changed those things... few countries solved their own problems the way we did. I also like how even though our country wasn't technically formed until 1776, we seem to also get blamed for everything that Spain, Holland, England, and France did in and around South and Central America, the islands, etc. All the other countries came in and totally devastated the native indian populations. In the United States, we at the very least let them keep some land. I think you're being unreasonably harsh about our history.
So many people like to talk about slavery in the US as though this was the only nation to ever do it and it was only whites enslaving blacks. Open your damn eyes. That horrible history includes a war fought in part to end that practice 150 years ago.
The wealthy owned slaves. Those "early pioneering Americans" weren't slave owners for the most part. But I guess recognizing any individual achievement would run counter to The Narrative™.
[This message has been edited by Formula88 (edited 08-07-2014).]
When speaking of how we came so far, so fast in this country, Mr. Harvey describes the hardworking spirit of the American pioneer, manifesting destiny, blazing trails west, and not expecting pay for services not rendered. Supporting himself and his own.
But..
He did not mention 89 years of slave labor, nor the genocide of native American peoples and theft of their property.
No, the early pioneering American was not some hardworking model to look up to, they did a lot of things wrong back then and I just have a hard time looking into the past for answers when the status quo was slavery, murder and theft. Here , Paul is guilty of re-writing history or ignoring REALLY important facts to try to make his point. A trusted voice can be just as erroneous as an unproven one, trust is often misplaced.
If you look at this than you have described almost all countries and societies. Most countries still practice this type of behavior today but WE the US are trying to do the right thing now.
