ABOLISH THE INCOME TAX

Whereas,

Owning and enjoying the fruits of one's own labor
should be recognized as one of the most natural and
basic human rights within a civilized community;

Whereas,

This right is now being directly contravened by the federal taxation on incomes;

Whereas,

This form of taxation imposes a singular hardship
on activities which create wealth; hence it tends
broadly to reduce the wealth in the nation and is
a cause of ruin and instances of poverty;

Whereas,

The poor and the lowest middle class contribute
disproportionate amounts to this taxation, often
without realizing that they contribute any;

Whereas,

About 20\% of the prices paid by everyone for goods
and services in the markets are remitted by the makers
etc. of same goods as the federal taxation off their
incomes;


Whereas,

No matter who might boast that "the poor are
tax-exempt", they are not free from the federal
taxation on incomes, which they pay indirectly, in
signal amounts and in an obscured fashion;

Whereas,

This point is so commonly overlooked as to bear
repetition till noticed and rectified: twenty cents off every dollar that every beggar spends for his hamburger go to the Federal Treasury as the taxation on the
incomes of those who have flipped the said hamburger,
who may be hardly any better off than he;


Whereas,

The payment of income taxation, or the indirect
costs thereof, contribute to virtually every case of
bankruptcy or insolvency in the nation, as if a snake
attempted to feed on its tail;

Whereas,

The wealthy are now subject to exorbitant rates of
this taxation, which they sometimes study to avoid
(It is only the little people who pay taxes),
and what often forces their operations out of the
economy and out of the country;

Whereas,

Collections of the Income Tax amount to more
frequent and egregious an invasion of privacy than that was known in the former Soviet block, where the records of human rights had otherwise been dismal;

Whereas,

A massive flight abroad is occurring presently, of
wealth and talent escaping these oppressive practices;
and this phenomenon takes on epidemic proportions,
further lessening the wealth actual in the nation and
exacerbating the plight of those taxpayers who have
either no will to leave the country of their birth
or no means to do so;

Whereas,

Taxation on incomes unavoidably engenders huge
segments within the society who are not party to it and who shunt the burden of furnishing the revenue onto
others; it places a peculiar premium on crime; it has
brought a most absurd situation about, where to
collect money owed, actually or allegedly, to the
Treasury often costs more than are the amounts
collected;

Whereas,

Originally, the U.S. Tax Code took a mere 16 pages;

Whereas,

This Code has grown into a monstrosity, both as to
the number of clauses contained in it and as to its
sheer volume, this fact alone putting its very premises to question;

Whereas,

Certain parts of said Code state, clearly and
unequivocally, that "The tax system is based on
voluntary compliance", while a non-payment of taxes has brought prosecution and even jail to numerous
individuals in this land;

Whereas,

Prosecution for non-compliance within a system of
voluntary compliance can only be thought of as one
among the most unsupportable idiocies in the history of the mankind;

Whereas,

These injuries to the individual and national
well-being, these insults to the common sense, are
aggravated by modes of distribution-dispersion of the
revenue collected, that often pervert the wealth
which this revenue represents into forms of
reward for non-production by individuals or entities;

Whereas,

The reported waste of the national wealth is too
great an amount to result from anything other than
basic flaws in current fiscal legislation;

Whereas,

There had been no peace-time taxation on incomes
in the U.S. before 1913, while these states were
achieving an unprecedented success in the human
history;

Whereas,

Sundry improprieties have marred the passage
in 1913 of the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which is now being printed as part of it and generally interpreted as authorizing the Congress to impose
a taxation on incomes;

Whereas,

Said improprieties appear to have been of such
nature and in such quantity that this Amendment
can reasonably be considered as being null and void
and without effect;

Whereas,

Albert Einstein, a man widely known for exceptional mental faculties, had reportedly remarked that
"The hardest thing in the world to understand is the
Income Tax";

Whereas,

It has not been offered since, to make Income Tax
understandable, or to prove it be anything other than
blind usurpation; and what can only be demonstrated in
this regard is that taxation on incomes is contrary to
the natural tendencies in the human talent and is
contradictory to soundness of economy;

Whereas,

This taxation has progressed from a minor and
perhaps negligible charge on the very wealthiest only,
to a cancer corrupting all strata of the society;
and the present outlook suggests that this form of
taxation is not tolerable in the long run and that
it will never work;

Whereas,

Ways of financing the discharge of its
constitutionally mandated duties by the federal
government are vital to its functioning in a proper
manner,

Therefore,



We, who were born to be free, broadly proclaim the
following postulates:






End the federal taxation on incomes altogether.

Repeal or rescind the 16th Amendment to
the U.S. Constitution.

Revert to forms of taxation that are clearly
warranted by the original Constitution, those
of excises as defined by Thomas Jefferson,
and duties and import tariffs.

In the stead of taxing incomes, institute a broadly based national excise on new goods and services,
a self-constraining tax on the articles of consumption
chiefly to supply for the present expense by the
federal government.

Ensure that both the said expense and the rate of
this excise lessen by natural consequence.

For a case of dire or obvious need, require by an
appropriate legislation, that any increase in the rate
of this excise be only made on the authority
of a national referendum, possibly via the
newly available medium of Internet.

[This petition supports House Resolution 4199, "To
Terminate the Internal Revenue Code of 1986", passed in the House and of now (May 2000) to be considered in the Senate; and Joint Resolution 45, "Proposing an
amendment to the Constitution of the United States to
abolish the Federal income tax". It is also to express
a qualified support, without particular commitment, to either of H.R. 2001 and H.R. 2525, both being "retail
tax" proposals, and to any bill that may be introduced
which would result in a taxation system appreciably
more fair than the present one of taxing incomes.]