Benjamin Franklin to Robert Morris: On Taxes
"The Remissness of our People in Paying Taxes is highly blameable; the Unwillingness to pay them is still more so. I see, in some Resolutions of Town Meetings, a Remonstrance against giving Congress a Power to take, as they call it, the People's Money out of their Pockets, tho' only to pay the Interest and Principal of Debts duly contracted. They seem to mistake the Point. Money, justly due from the People, is their Creditors' Money, and no longer the Money of the People, who, if they withold it, should be compell'd to pay by some Law. All Property, indeed, except the Savage's temporary Cabin, his Bow, his Matchcoat, and other little Acquisitions, absolutely necessary for his Subsistence, seems to me to be the Creature of public Convention. Hence the Public has the Right of Regulating Descents, and all other Conveyances of Property, and even of limiting the Quantity and the Uses of it. All the Property that is necessary to a Man, for the Conservation of the Individual and the Propagation of the Species, is his natural Right, which none can justly deprive him of: But all Property superfluous to such purposes is the Property of the Publick, who, by their Laws, have created it, and who may therefore by other Laws dispose of it, whenever the Welfare of the Publick shall demand such Disposition. He that does not like civil Society on these Terms, let him retire and live among Savages. He can have no right to the benefits of Society, who will not pay his Club towards the Support of it."
Alan: The Republican Party trumpets "No New Tax" only so long as it is politically expedient and beneficial to the wealthy. The enormity of GOP cynicism over the stupidity and ignorance of its low-information Base is the most exceptional component of American "Exceptionalism."
G.O.P. governors in several states are proposing tax increases. "Many of these tax increases face tough sledding in Republican-controlled legislatures like Nevada’s. And a host of Republican governors are pushing for cuts or holding the line on taxes. Still, the shift is striking, and it comes in the wake of problems that Gov. Sam Brownback of Kansas, a Republican, suffered after pushing though sharp cuts in business and income taxes."Adam Nagourney and Shaila Dewan in The New York Times.
"Plutocracy Triumphant"
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1910 Income Tax Promised To Never Shift Burden From Richest 1 - 4%
U Mass Professor Emeritus Richard Wolff Provides Out-Of-The-Box Views
"The Rich Aren't Just Grabbing A Bigger Slice Of The Pie. They're Taking It All"
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http://paxonbothhouses.
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