It was with the best of intentions that the colonists rebelled against a master that taxed them mercilessly. During the initial days of freedom much debate was had over the right of the “government” to tax its subjects. More importantly was the idea that each citizen could indeed own their property. The Fifth Amendment clearly stated, “nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.”

The founding fathers understood that private property and the ownership of this was the foundation of both prosperity and freedom. However, it was President Lincoln and congress in July of 1862 that formed the Commissioner of Internal Revenue and enacted the “income tax” to pay for his war. This commission was the precursor to the current Internal Revenue Service. In 1907 the initial phases of a federal property tax was initiated. And with these actions the freedoms that had long been held began to disappear, for now the Federal government with all of its representative might could summarily relieve an individual property owner of their property for not paying the “protection” taxation money demanded. No longer could an individual own their home and property, for now thanks to an overreaching federal government one would always pay for being a property owner.

In February of 2009 a modern organization of people from all walks of life came together to protest the federal governments spending of trillions of tax dollars for the sole purpose of enabling major corporate interests to stay in business. Instead of allowing these business’s to fail and contribute to true capitalism by opening up areas for new growth the federal government used our tax dollars to keep them afloat. Over the following months these same business’s began laying off hard working Americans, the same Americans who had paid the tax dollars that kept them in business and began shipping more and more of their available jobs to foreign interests. Millions of Americans lost their entire lives and began losing their homes at an alarming rate, while your government used more of your money to advertise lies such as, “the economy is improving,” countless millions of hardworking Americans went bankrupt or worse. Foreclosure rates skyrocketed and in many cases back taxes went unpaid, leading to more seizures of individual property by an out of control government.

In the recent months this same Tax Day movement has become something it never was meant to be, however, for many of those (including myself) who rallied behind the original reasons for its existence the message was made clear. Our government has become a bloated corporate messenger of lies. Daniel Webster stated, “An unlimited right to tax, implies a right to destroy.” In his argument in McCulloch v. Maryland – February 22, 1819. The founding fathers originally won this nation from overlords who were using taxation as a means of control; our modern federal government has lost its way as well.

I leave you with this last quote from a mind greater than mine, Alexander Hamilton stated the following, “The genius of liberty reprobates everything arbitrary or discretionary in taxation.” The Continentalist, no. 6. N.Y. Packet – July 4, 1782  In this simple quote he condemned the idea that taxes should be made mandatory or threats be used to retain taxes. The modern IRS is nothing more than a protection racket, they threaten to take (and do in many cases) your property if you fail to pay them.

When you vote in August remember that those who have already been in office have done nothing to prevent this, in fact they have for the most part done everything to promote increased taxes. John McCain, JD Hayworth, Jonathon Paton and more have all done their part to contribute to your loss of income and the government (be it state or federal) ability to further control your freedom! Vote for fresh faces, and do not contribute to our loss of freedoms further by voting in the very problems we are trying to be done with!

This article is one in a series titled (What would the founding fathers do) which can be seen at Cochise County Libertarian Examiner

Originally posted at Examiner.com © Jesse Mathewson

 

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