 |
The Constitution,
in Article I, Section 8, gives Congress the power "to lay and collect
Taxes, Duties, Imposts, and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide
for the common Defense and general Welfare of the United States."
In Article I, Section 9, the original document made clear that "no
Capitation, or other direct Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion
to the Census of Enumeration herein before directed to be taken."
It is moreover established that "No Tax or Duty shall be laid on
Articles exported from any State."
Since 1913,
our Constitutional rights to life, liberty, and property have been
abridged and diminished by the assumption of direct taxing authority
on each of us by the federal government. We will propose legislation
to abolish the Internal Revenue Service, and will veto any authorization,
appropriation, or continuing resolution which contains any funding
whatsoever for that illicit and unconstitutional agency. We are
opposed to the flat-rate tax proposals that are being promoted as
an improvement to the current tax system.
The Sixteenth
Amendment does not provide authority for an unapportioned direct
tax. Moreover, it is our intention to replace entirely the current
tax system of the U.S. government (including income taxes, Social
Security taxes, estate taxes, and inheritance taxes). To the degree
that tariffs on foreign products are insufficient to cover the legitimate
Constitutional costs of the federal government, we will offer an
apportioned "state-rate tax" in which the responsibility for covering
the cost of unmet obligations will be divided among the several
states in accordance with their proportion of the total population
of the United States, excluding the District of Columbia. Thus,
if a state contains 10 percent of the nation’s citizens, it will
be responsible for assuming payment of 10 percent of the annual
deficit. The effect of this "state-rate tax" will be to encourage
politicians to argue for less, rather than more, federal spending,
and less state spending as well. We endorse ratification of the
Liberty Amendment, which would repeal the Sixteenth Amendment.
|