primitives celebrate the income tax

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022303961

Oh my.

Recursion (22,459 posts)    Sun Feb 3, 2013, 11:10 AM

Happy 100th birthday Income Tax!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16th_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution

With Delaware's ratification on February 3, 1913, one of the Progressive Movement's signal goals was accomplished, and an income tax was established to undo some of the excessive inequality of the so-called "Gilded Age".

NYC_SKP (46,439 posts)    Sun Feb 3, 2013, 11:15 AM

1. Too bad that the original intent has been subverted to actually steal from the middle class.

We need to tax wealth, not income.

And, where we tax income, we have to do so far more progressively.

Hand's off the middle class!

Recursion (22,459 posts)    Sun Feb 3, 2013, 11:17 AM

3. We're currently in Gilded Age 2.0

Maybe we can get a wealth tax this time now that the pendulum is starting to swing our way again.

 

former9thward (5,735 posts)     Sun Feb 3, 2013, 11:22 AM

4. The Constitutional amendment may be 100 but the income tax has been around a lot longer.

Congress created the income tax to finance the Civil War in 1862. The Confederate states also had an income tax.

Revanchist (28 posts)    Sun Feb 3, 2013, 12:01 PM

5. That's a nice round number.

Now can we scrap it and write a new one that's under 20,000 pages in length?

[Maxiest]

NYC_SKP (46,439 posts)    Sun Feb 3, 2013, 11:15 AM

1. Too bad that the original intent has been subverted to actually steal from the middle class.

We need to tax wealth, not income.

And, where we tax income, we have to do so far more progressively.

Hand's off the middle class!

Even though the 16th Amendment is unconstitutional...  it was meant for everyone to pay their fair share, not just the top 50% dipshit.

[USA4ME]

NYC_SKP

1. Too bad that the original intent has been subverted to actually steal from the middle class.

We need to tax wealth, not income.

And, where we tax income, we have to do so far more progressively.

Hand's off the middle class!

Just pay what you owe and shut up.  What other people earn and report is none of your business, primitive.

.

[Maxiest]

Revanchist (28 posts)    Sun Feb 3, 2013, 12:01 PM

5. That's a nice round number.

Now can we scrap it and write a new one that's under 20,000 pages in length?

Actually DU Troll, its much more than that.

[Dori]

One of my first jobs was in a tax office, I filed the new indexed tax laws and decisions into the volumes of tax law books that we had.  They were printed in small type, both sides, on thin paper like they have in bibles. 

Tax laws are ridiculous.   If I did a tax return with an odd or questionable deduction, I would go through the tax books to find a tax case decision where the same circimstances were presented.  Being the cases always had contradictions and opposing decisions, I would find one that had been decided in my clients favor and referenced it. 

Forget trying to call the IRS for help.  Most of those people don't know very much.

 

[Bad Dog]

Forget trying to call the IRS for help.  Most of those people don't know very much.

 

You are a very, very kind person.

[Ptarmigan]

Actually DU Troll, its much more than that.

One of my first jobs was in a tax office, I filed the new indexed tax laws and decisions into the volumes of tax law books that we had.  They were printed in small type, both sides, on thin paper like they have in bibles. 

Tax laws are ridiculous.   If I did a tax return with an odd or questionable deduction, I would go through the tax books to find a tax case decision where the same circimstances were presented.  Being the cases always had contradictions and opposing decisions, I would find one that had been decided in my clients favor and referenced it. 

Forget trying to call the IRS for help.  Most of those people don't know very much.

 

Go figure. A really complex law.