Taxes have been paid since almost the beginning of human civilization. Ancient Mesopotamia taxed its citizens in the form of livestock nearly 4500 years ago. Egypt, China, Rome, and Greece are a few other cultures that have had taxation. (Tax History, the Definition of Income Taxes, a Taxucation, n.d.) As old and as common as taxation is, the United States hasn’t always taxed its citizens. The American colonies decided to leave the British Empire and start their own nation in part due to the unfair taxation of American citizens by the British government. It makes sense that a national tax after the Revolutionary War with Britain wasn’t immediately implemented. Our tax system wasn’t introduced until the Civil War in 1861 and then made into an Amendment in 1913.
There are a varying types of tax systems in existence. Our current tax system is called progressive. If you make less money you will pay less tax. Progressively, the more income you make, the more tax you will pay. There is some controversy surrounding the progressive tax system and alternatives have been
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Oddly, this is also considered a negative by those who oppose a flat tax. Under our current progressive system, the lower income taxpayer mostly likely doesn’t pay any tax at all. With government provided credits and deductions, many low-income taxpayers receive money back from the US government instead of paying. With the flat tax system, those low-income taxpayers would not only no longer receive a monetary bonus from the government but they would have to start paying out taxes. Most current flat tax proposed plans are not a true flat tax plan but instead are modified to mitigate the ill effects that could be felt by the poor. There would concessions put into place that would allow an income level beneath which no income tax would be paid in addition to some deductions. (Nunes,
The British colonies in America from the time they were established up until around 1763 had a policy of Salutary Neglect. Salutary Neglect meant that the British would not interfere with the colonies national or even international affairs. This benefitted the colonies, they got to experience some forms of democracy, and they also were able to experience independence in a way though they took it for granted. The British after the Seven Years War, which was fought on American soil, for the Americans protection, decided that the colonies should be required to pay for it in taxes. Britain was in debt, and their economy was in a recession, so the well off colonies tax money would have helped them considerably. The tax would only be the beginning to a long line of British policies further upsetting the colonial people.
Sixteenth Amendment- Authorization of an Income Tax – Progressives thought this would slow down the rising wealth of the richest Americans by using a sliding or progressive scale where the wealthier would pay more into the system. In 1907, Roosevelt supported the tax but it took two years until his Successor, Taft endorsed the constitutional amendment for the tax. The Sixteenth Amendment was finally ratified by the states in 1913. The origin of the income tax came William J Bryan in 1894 to help redistribute wealth and then from Roosevelt and his dedication to reform of corporations. I agree with an income tax to pay for all of our government systems and departments, but I believe there was a misfire with “redistributing wealth.” The redistribution is seen in welfare systems whereby individuals receive money to live. This is meant to be a temporary assistance, but sadly, most that are in the system are stuck due to lack of assistance in learning how to escape poverty. There are a lot of government funded programs, but there is no general help system to help lift people up and stay up, so there continues a cycle of
Should the American tax system remain the same, where individuals’ income is taxed based on how much one makes with loopholes and deductions? Should we consider a system that would eliminate progressive income taxes, taxing everyone at an equal rate through the Flat Rate Tax, or should taxes be collected through national consumption of retail goods and the Fair Tax System? Our current system of taxation is a varied percentage rate based on different income brackets. Many say that it violates our constitutional rights through unequal taxation. Multiple deductions, loopholes, special rates, and a complex system of regulations all characterize our Federal Income Tax System, prompting many to question why it is still being used (Peters, 2013).
After the Revolutionary War the United States had a massive debt to deal with, but because of the Articles of Confederation the federal government could not raise taxes to pay off the debt (Blake). States were responsible for helping to pay off the federal government’s debt along with any of their own debt, so Massachusetts decided to institute heavy taxes that had to be paid in cash. According to historian Leonard Richards, “Taxes levied by the state [Massachusetts] were now much more oppressive—indeed many times more oppressive—than those that had been levied by the British on the eve of the American Revolution” (Richards 88).Ninety percent of all taxes collected were for property or poll taxes (Smith). Each family had to pay a tax for every male that was older than sixteen in the household under the poll tax, leaving the farmer who had grown sons very venerable. Many were unable to pay taxes and were thrown into prison. The farmers who could pay the taxes were left with very little cash to pay for necessities like food or clothing, to be able to acquire these items farmers had to trade their agricultural products. After British investors stopped giving credit to American merchants and demanded cash, the mer...
The tax policy in the United States is very confusing. When the tax policy was originally written in 1913 it was four hundred pages. Now, over the past ninety one years, that tax policy has evolved to over 72,000 pages. Since the tax code has become so lengthy and nearly impossible to understand, the topic of tax reform has been in the minds of many. Although, most barely think about tax reform until tax season. It is a controversial subject due to the impact a change in tax code would have on the American people. The two most popular and widely known stakeholders in this debate are the two major political parties in the United States, the Democrats and the Republicans. The two parties share absolutely no common ground on the subject of tax reform, other than thinking the other parties solution is wrong. The Democrats, in general, want to raise taxes on the wealthy, while Republicans, generally, want to cut taxes for everyone (Democratic Party) (GOP). Unfortunately, with the United States economy currently doing so poorly, the parties can no longer afford to remain at a standstill, some sort of compromise is going to have to be made. The implementation of a flat tax, and discarding the current tax system would be a compromise that both parties can agree on and will simplify the tax code, overall benefiting all Americans.
I. You might have heard politicians in the news, talk about overhauling our tax system with a new fix-all idea, the flat-tax. This would simplify our overly complicated tax system and might seem appealing at first glance, however there are serious problems with it.
North America had not been taxed directly before March 22, 1765. However, on that day, the British Parliament gave its first direct tax on the North American colonies known as the Stamp Act. The reason that this happened was to pay for the Seven Years’ War. The North American colonies’ role in this was being fought over by the French and British to rule over the colony. This made the colonists have to pay taxes on many papers and documents. Also, anyone who was thought to have disobeyed the Stamp act could be prosecuted in a court that didn’t have any juries and could be anywhere in Great Britain or its colonies known as the Vice-Admiralty Courts.
The best sources used was the chapter on taxes in the textbook Battleground: Government and Politics. This gave the most comprehensive overview on flat tax. The second best would be the article from George Mason’s Walter Williams because he clearly understands that it is a good idea; however, it will not pass. Even though a majority of the articles stated there was a problem with the current tax system, there was no plausible ways to fix it. Flat tax would not be used because it would remove tax deductions for things like mortgages, donations, educational expenses, etc. Additionally it would remove jobs from accountants as well as IRS agents whose job it is to enforce the tax code. Neither people, nor politicians would be willing to give up their tax deductions and for that reason the flat tax would not work. The current tax code is not a perfect system, but it is the best that we
The problem for many American colonists was not that taxes were high (the taxes were actually quite low, particularly compared with those paid by ordinary citizens of Britain), but that the colonies were not consulted about the new taxes, as they had no representation in Parliament. The colonists did not have any voting rights with regards to the taxes and so in order to avoid having to pay the taxes imposed on them the colonist’s boycotted British goods. This eventually led to the Boston Tea Party and other boycotts.
Instead of the Congress collecting it the states won control over the taxes. In the textbook The American Pageant page 173 it states that “Suspicious states, having just won control over taxation…” In the Constitution it was different the congress had power to taxes. In the US Constitution Article 1, “Power Granted to Congress” section 8, clause 1, it states “It may lay and collect taxes.” These two evidence, document shows that the tax collections were different in the Articles of Confederation and the
Aaron Hill from Education Portal suggests “ A progressive tax system really acts as a tool for redistributing income from the upper class to the lower and middle class. Those individuals who earn more pay more into the federal government. This helps keeps the income gap from growing wider between the rich and the poor.” Although this is what the government claims most of the money is just recirculated for the federal government to use as it’s own
After the French and Indian War ended in 1763, Great Britain had nearly gone bankrupt paying for the war. The British thought it was only logical to start new taxes against the colonists. After all, to the British, they had fought the war in the name of the colonies and in what they believed was in their best interest. Many different types of taxes came and went to help pay for the debt. Over time, the
The flat tax will make taxes fair for all people. No matter what race a person is, what social class a person is in, or who they’re friends with, they will end up paying the same rate. Every single taxpayer will have to sacrifice just as much of his or her life as the next person down the road. One of the three main reasons for taxes is to maintain fairness. This is most reasonable ways to maintain fairness. The wealthy will still be paying more money than the poor person, but they both have the same tax burden.
About 27 billion is collected each year for tax purposes that is why paying tax is harmful to most people in the world, therefore (TAXES MUST BE STOPPED), 71% of Americans don't get what their tax should cover, the government can legally utilize any property owned by you to pay off tax the government is manipulating its citizens. First, when a person doesn't pay off his tax the government can legally have ownership of their property to pay tax and that has caused 45% of Americans have gone homeless to make it worse if a person has debt on tax and couldn't pay because of his/her situation it will be automatically transferred to a family member therefore not paying tax won't only hurt you but also your family members, an example that had a similar situation to this has happened with actor/author '' Wesly Snipes'' his father died and was in debt which prompt Mr. Wesly paying 5 million, led to him announcing bankruptcy thi example shows how one person's problem can be another .
With the end of the French and Indian wars, the first worldwide war, the British found themselves with a huge national debt. The only reason they won the war was that their treasury lasted longer than the French treasury. As part of the agreement for peace, the French offered to give all their holdings in America to the British. These new acquisitions were a problem for the British parliament because now they needed to stop settlers from the British colonies going into the new land in fear that the Indians would attack them. Therefore, to defend the colonists from Indians (and vice versa) the British parliament decided that the colonists should pay a small tax (compared to was paid