Difference between revisions of "2009-05-31 Why do people persist in voting Republican/woozle/2009"
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(→Midian (round 4): not finished, but it's time to pick up the kids) |
(→Woozle (round 4) -- in progress: just a bit more; not done) |
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| − | I think this is completely backwards. | + | I think this is almost completely backwards. |
To paraphrase the gun lobby: Take away the legitimate power and money, and only the illegitimate will remain enriched and powerful. | To paraphrase the gun lobby: Take away the legitimate power and money, and only the illegitimate will remain enriched and powerful. | ||
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It's like arguing that because one team has a habit of bribing referees, we should have fewer referees or pay them less. (The fact that this corrupt team is using their ill-gotten gains to promote the idea of referee-reduction does not add any legitimacy to the idea.) | It's like arguing that because one team has a habit of bribing referees, we should have fewer referees or pay them less. (The fact that this corrupt team is using their ill-gotten gains to promote the idea of referee-reduction does not add any legitimacy to the idea.) | ||
| − | '' | + | : [M] ''"How did the government function until 1913, prior to income tax?"'' |
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| + | That ''is'' very much a legitimate question. Some possible answers are obvious, but I'm leery of "obvious" answers; I'd like to know what the actual reasoning and facts were that led to this decision. | ||
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| + | Wikipedia [[wikipedia:Income tax in the United States|gives the following history]]: | ||
| + | * '''1861''': First US personal income tax ever, to help pay for the Civil War -- 3% of all incomes over $800 | ||
| + | * '''1862''': The above tax is repealed and replaced by another one. | ||
| + | * '''1894''': the Wilson-Gorman tariff imposes the first US peacetime income tax -- 2% on income over $4000, fewer than 10% of households had to pay anything. Purpose was "to make up for revenue that would be lost by tariff reductions." (Whose tariffs were being reduced, and why? Suspicious.) | ||
| + | * '''1895''': Supreme Court [[wikipedia:Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co.|rules]] that taxes on property rents are unconstitutional; however, the "Court affirmed that the Constitution did not deny Congress the power to impose a tax on real and personal property." | ||
| + | * '''1913''': States ratify the [[wikipedia:Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|16th Amendment]], allowing "Congress to levy an income tax without apportioning it among the states or basing it on Census results" and overruling Pollock re taxing property rents. | ||
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| + | ''still in progress... time to start dinner. --[[User:Woozle|Woozle]] 21:10, 30 November 2009 (UTC)'' | ||