As Congress continues its seemingly endless quest to achieve real income tax reform, one group is set for action. The Coalition to Repeal the 16th Amendment is looking to, well, repeal the 16th Amendment and to support candidates for office against incumbents who support the IRS.
The 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution says, “The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.” Or, in other words, for the first time, with this amendment, Congress had the power to tax individual citizens, or as we have come to know it, to put into place and collect an income tax that scaled up or down based on the amount of income earned.
Some roll their eyes at this sort of an effort to re-establish the prohibition on the federal government from collecting revenue from the states other than in accordance with population and only by a means that the states approve. And yet, what should we expect to happen given recent history?
Over the years income tax rates have fluctuated wildly, with the highest rates moving from 7 percent to a high of 94 percent, and the lowest rate moving from 1 percent to 42 percent. That sort of a rate roller coaster combined with the mind-boggling complications of an increasingly Byzantine code would be more than enough to invite a grassroots revolt. But the situation is even worse.
Because of the income tax and the carve-out complications embedded in it, an enforcement agency had to be created to watch over compliance with the mess—the IRS. But for years the agency has only added to the problems.
Senator Dick Durbin recently used the IRS to target opponents of his agenda. That a U.S. senator would encourage the IRS to take actions that are, or appear to be, political—selecting political targets for extra scrutiny—is at best poor governance, but really smacks of governmental abuse of power. That the IRS would actually follow through on such a suggestion is even worse.
In the meantime, income tax reform still seems a far-off fantasy despite the best efforts of House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp and others.
Citizens are irritated by a tax system they cannot understand, afraid of political actions that may sweep them up even though they are completely lawful, and have no confidence that enforcement has any remaining sense of justice. Can it be a surprise then that some people are ready to uproot the source of the problems and start over?
September 5, 2013