Disclaimer: This article may contain the personal views and opinions of the author.
There are so many problems with The Inflation Reduction Act, starting with its existence, followed by the armed IRS agents, and finally, the Manchin-Schumer pact written out in the Act itself.
Elon Musk had to weigh in and point out the irony of the situation.
“When the country that revolted over taxes hires 87,000 new IRS agents.” The tweet said, followed by a British soldier laughing.
Elon Musk is referring to the Revolutionary War, and the irony is hard to ignore. On May 10, 1773, the protest held by the Sons of Liberty boarded British ships and destroyed an entire shipment of tea.
The act will later be called the Boston Tea Party, and the protest was in response to the Tea Act. The Tea Act allowed the British East India Company to sell tea from China to the American colonies without paying taxes. It sounds like history repeats itself in more ways than one.
The Tea Act was a part of a series of taxes called the Townshend Acts, which placed an indirect tax on items such as glass, paper, and tea. It was the first form of direct taxation placed on the colonies, which led to the phrase:
“No taxation without representation!”
Before anyone goes saying that income tax is illegal, the 16th Amendment says otherwise:
“The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.”
At this point, it should be said that income tax collection is in the Constitution, so any debate on the matter is mute. However, both the 16th amendment and the IRS have a questionable history.
“The earliest incarnation of the IRS was the Office of the Commissioner of Revenue, which was established by Congress in 1792 in response to the request by Secretary of the Treasury ALEXANDER HAMILTON that various tariffs and taxes be created to raise money to pay off the U.S. Revolutionary War debt. Trench Coxe of Pennsylvania was the first person to hold the office. By creating the Office of the Commissioner of Revenue, Congress delegated its constitutional power to “lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises” to the Treasury Department, which has retained the power ever since (art. 1, § 8, U.S. Constitution).”
Thomas Jefferson strongly opposed Hamilton and his Federalist party programs. During Jefferson’s presidency, he abolished the entire system and relied on taxing imported items.
Whether or not the IRS was corrupted from the beginning can be debated. The origins of the IRS and the creation of the 16th amendment sort of go hand in hand. The idea of income taxes came during Post Civil War while new tax measures were passed during the war to help fund the Union army.
The debate on the 16th amendment is on whether it was adequately ratified or not. There is plenty of room for speculation on the matter because it wasn’t until 1913 that the amendment was ratified. Mind you, an income tax was proposed as early as 1812 and wasn’t enacted until 1861 because of the Civil War.
“Opponents of the new income tax claimed that it was a socialistic confiscation of wealth by the federal government. Barely a year after it was enacted, the Supreme Court declared the tax unconstitutional. In a 5-4 ruling, the high court decided that the income tax was forbidden by Article I, Section 9, of the Constitution. This prohibits direct taxes on individuals unless apportioned on the basis of the population of each state. The majority of justices ruled against the 1894 tax law even though the Supreme Court had earlier upheld the similar Civil War income tax. [Pollock v. Farmer’s Loan and Trust Co. (158 U.S. 601 (1895.)]”
There are a few clauses in Article 1, Section 9 of the Constitution; its main points are on the powers denied to Congress, including direct taxes.
“Clause 4 Direct Taxes
No Capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the Census or enumeration herein before directed to be taken.”
Our Country was born out of a struggle. It was a struggle for fair representation. As Elon Musk pointed out, we separated from one of the largest superpowers of its day over taxes. It wasn’t solely over taxes but one of many tipping points.
As Trump has infamously said: “They are not after me, they are after you. I am just in the way.”
First, it was Mar-a-Lago; who’s next?
