Sunday, February 08, 2004

“Why The Income Tax is Bad”

In 1956, U.S. News and World Report interviewed recently retired Internal Revenue chief T. Coleman Andrews.  The title to this post is the title to the piece.  Though Andrews would not come right out for abolishing the taxes, whether by use of a lottery or voluntary contributions, his critique was still pointed.  Here’s the link to the interview, which is lengthy.  Below are a few excerpts.

Q Mr. Andrews, is it feasible to do away with the income tax?  Are there other ways to get income into the Federal Treasury besides taxing the individual?

A Of course there are.  To say otherwise would be to say that we have lost the imagination and ingenuity that have made us leaders among the nations of the earth in so many other fields of human endeavor.  Moreover, it would be to resign ourselves to slavery.  For absolutism in one form or another is the inevitable end of “steeply graduated” taxes on income and inheritances, and absolutism in any form is slavery…” “...we’ll continue to penalize outstanding ability and success until the will to achieve has been destroyed throughout the nation and we’ve all been reduced to the aimless status of an indifferent conglomerate of bone, tissue and blood.

Q Shouldn’t everybody have the same income?  President Franklin Roosevelt said nobody should have more than $25,000-

A You know I don’t subscribe to such socialistic demagoguery as that.  I say everybody should have what he can make honestly, with a minimum of taxes…

The following is in regards to the inheritance tax.

Q Maybe that’s a good thing; they can scratch to get ahead-

A I don’t agree.  The best incentive for those who haven’t started scratching is the example of those who did and who achieved success by doing so.

The entire interview is worth reading.

The rebuttal by then professional jobholder Rep. (R) Daniel A. Reed.

Via Karen DeCoster.

Posted by John Venlet on 02/08 at 02:05 PM
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