Income Tax Has Been Highly Destructive to Society

Guest Post by Martin Armstrong

Income Tax Top-Bracket-2

Income taxes are a product of the Marxist period. This is when class warfare became dominant. People actually argued that it was unjust that someone else had more money than another and expect government to take it from them. The introduction of the Income Tax was expressly stated that it would ONLY apply to the rich. This is no different from seeing someone with a Rolex watch and going with a gun to rob him yelling it’s not fair he has someone you do not. This is the coveting of your neighbor’s goods.

There are some who begrudge others having anything they do not and attribute everything to some sort of fairness. This was the dominant theory that took hold in the world especially after the Panic of 1893. This trend has led to the downfall of Western Society as it it to those who grabbed all property in the Communist world.

Nevertheless, this displaced the family structure and altered society tremendously. Children no longer saved to take care of their parents. That became the duty of the state – not their obligation. So as the state now fails from fiscal mismanagement, we will see the true cost of Marxism as did those behind the Iron Curtain. The difference today, they have a health distrust about government and retained the family structure. I Europe and America, we lost much of those values as a whole.

The fact that the US National Debt was paid off on January 1st, 1835 without an income tax proved that Marxism and the income tax is not merely unnecessary, it has been highly destructive.

Extinction of the National Debt

On December 26th, 1834, the Treasury Report, announced the astonishing important event in economic history – the National Debt Of the United States, which at one time amounted to more than $127,00,000, would be totally Extinguished on the first of next month (January 1, 1835). This fact demonstrated that income taxes were not required. During the course of 19 years, by means of only indirect taxation, the $127 million national debt was paid off.

 

1st of Jan
Debt
President
1784 Washington pop was 3,000,000
1791 $75,463,476.52
1792 77,227,924.66
1793 80,352,634.04
1794 78,427,404.77
1795 80,747,587.39
1796 83,762,172.07
1797 82,064,479.33
1798 79,228,529.42 John Adams
1799 78,408,669.77
1800 82,976,294.35
1801 83,038,050.80
1802 80,712,632.25 Jefferson
1803 77,054,686.30 Louisiana Purchase
1804 86,427,120.88
1805 82,312,150.50
1806 75,623,270.66
1807 69,218,398.64
1808 65,196,317.97
1810 53,173,217.52 Madison
1811 48,605,507.76 National Road Begun
1812 45,209,337.90 War of 1812 Started
1813 55,962,827.57
1814 81,487,346.52 War of 1812 Ended
1815 99,833,660.15
1816 127,334,933.74 The year with no Summer
1817 123,491,965.16
1818 104,466,633.83 Monroe
1819 95,529,648.28 Pop was 9,000,000
1820 91,025,500.15 Missouri & Maine
&
1st steam engine
1821 89,957,127.66
1822 93,516,675.98
1823 90,875,877.22 Monroe Doctrine
1824 90,259,777.77
1825 83,788,432.71 Erie Canal
1826 81,054,059.99 John Q. Adams
1827 73,957,357.20
1828 67,475,043.87
1829 58,424,413.67
1830 48,580,534.22 Andrew Jackson
1831 39,082,461.88
1832 24,282,879.24 SC threaten
secession over tariff
1833 7,001,698.83
1834 4,722,260.29 reaper patent
1835 0,000,000.00

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Brian
Brian

I concur with this. We could pay off the debt if someone serious would present a plan. The problem is it is not in the interest of the banks or the government to so. The banks get absolute power and government stooges get “free” money to blow on pork and power plays.

How about something along these lines?
All Fines, fee’s, penalties, and revenue collected shall be used to pay of maturing Treasury bonds.

Existing Treasury bonds shall not be rolled over into new Treasury bonds.

The Congress shall not budget in excess of 10% of the GNP. This limit may be suspended only during a declared war. Government spending shall not be included in the calculations for GNP.

All wages and compensation for labor shall be paid with Treasury produced public money.
Any seigniorage realized from this shall be used to pay down the existing maturing Treasury bonds.

While not comprehensive it might be a start.

ASIG
ASIG

“. People actually argued that it was unjust that someone else had more money than another and expect government to take it from them.”

“There are some who begrudge others having anything they do not and attribute everything to some sort of fairness.”

They only see one side of the equation. They see that someone has something they don’t. They don’t see the effort/work it took for that person to have what they have.

I remember in my twenties friends inviting me to go with them to the beach and I told them I needed to finish the roof on a building. They told me I was crazy. They couldn’t see the connection of hard work and the benefits to come later in the future, but that’s what my focus was.

Over the years I’ve been told a number of times that I was nuts for working as much as I did because many people can’t see the connection between the hard work and the future benefit, but I could.

So now people can see what I have but they can no longer see the work and sacrifices it took to achieve it all.

Yea it’s just not fair that I have more than others, I’m so lucky.

Funny how throughout all those years no one ever complained “it’s just not fair” that I was doing all this work and that it wasn’t fair that they didn’t get their share of all this hard work.

Bea Lever
Bea Lever

This year income tax was highly destructive to my bank accounts. IRS can suck it.

Anonymous
Anonymous

ABout 40 years ago when I was in college I knew a communist activist.

One of his favorite sayings was “No one should have two pairs of boots till everyone has one”.

I don’t know if this is an actual communist slogan or just his own saying.

I asked him once why I would keep making boots after I had my pair.

He had no answer.

Same can be said for progressive income taxes once they reach the point of no return on your work above a certain point.

FWIW, the guy was a pretty good sort of guy, a friend of sorts. He gave ma a copy of the “Little Red Book” that I still have. I often wonder what happened to him, wonder if he ended up becoming a stock broker or something like Rubin did last I heard from him.

P.M.Lawrence

Income taxes are a product of the Marxist period.

No, they were invented during the Napoleonic Wars, or possibly even earlier if we only look at the theory of them. It’s just that different countries adopted them permanently at different times and for different reasons.

Victor
Victor

FWIW, A heavy progressive or graduated income tax is the second plank of the Communist Manifesto.

Look it up, interesting reading if nothing else.

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