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Income taxes and our Constitution

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by Stretch15, Jan 10, 2007.

  1. Stretch15

    Stretch15 Member

  2. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    I've seen these kooks before. I have no patience to watch an hour and a half, so I cut it off after 30 seconds. But I am sure I know the argument: The 16th Amendment was never properly ratified, blah, blah, blah. And it's just not true.

    These conspiracy kooks cite a thousand different reasons: It's either than in certain states, the written amendment they voted on had different capitalization or punctuation (yes, they do make this inane argument), or the silly argument that Ohio wasn't officially a state, so it couldn't have ratified the amendment--apparently Congress didn't pass an official proclamation saying that Ohio had been admitted to the union in 1803 until the 1950s.

    After the stupid argument, I have no idea what the guy spent an hour and a half talking about. I don't want to know.

    And I say that as someone who personally abhors the 16th amendment. I think it flies in the face of the principles of liberty and and the right to property that the country was founded on. Remember, the American revolution was borne, in large part, because of a government levying taxes on the colonies. But that said, we did change our constitution to allow a Federal income tax in 1916, and given how hard it is to amend the constitution, the amendment is legit and reflected the will of the states at the time.
     
  3. leo1

    leo1 Active Member

    yawn. anyone who believes taxes are unconstitutional should go ahead and stop paying. eventually the IRS will catch up to you and it won't be pretty when they get you. this issue has been litigated time and time again and the challenger always loses. always.
     
  4. joe

    joe Active Member

    People try to put us d-down (Talkin' 'bout my constitution)
    Just because we get around (Talkin' 'bout my constitution)
    Things they do look awful c-c-cold (Talkin' 'bout my constitution)
    I hope I die before I get old (Talkin' 'bout my constitution)

    This is my constitution
    This is my constitution, baby

    Why don't you all f-fade away (Talkin' 'bout my constitution)
    And don't try to dig what we all s-s-say (Talkin' 'bout my constitution)
    I'm not trying to cause a big s-s-sensation (Talkin' 'bout my constitution)
    I'm just talkin' 'bout my g-g-g-generation (Talkin' 'bout my constitution)

    This is my constitution
    This is my constitution, baby

    Why don't you all f-fade away (Talkin' 'bout my constitution)
    And don't try to d-dig what we all s-s-say (Talkin' 'bout my constitution)
    I'm not trying to cause a b-big s-s-sensation (Talkin' 'bout my constitution)
    I'm just talkin' 'bout my g-g-generation (Talkin' 'bout my constitution)

    This is my constitution
    This is my constitution, baby

    People try to put us d-down (Talkin' 'bout my constitution)
    Just because we g-g-get around (Talkin' 'bout my constitution)
    Things they do look awful c-c-cold (Talkin' 'bout my constitution)
    Yeah, I hope I die before I get old (Talkin' 'bout my constitution)

    This is my constitution
    This is my constitution, baby
     
  5. EStreetJoe

    EStreetJoe Well-Known Member

    Ragu, hate to disagree with you on this point, but I do.
    The American Revolution was borne in large part because of the taxes on the colonies without the colonies having representation to fight passage of said taxes. With the 16th Amendment, the citizens all had representation in the form of the government officials they voted for so it doesn't fly in the face of the principles the country was founded on.
    Also consider that in the 130 some-odd years between the passage of the Constitution and the passage of the 16th Amendment, the world had changed and the government needed a new source of money so the income tax was born. What Congress has done with it in the 90+ years since then is a disgrace, but that's a different argument altogether.
     
  6. HejiraHenry

    HejiraHenry Well-Known Member

    I've got this great video about how the earth is flat. It's really enlightening, too.
     
  7. Flying Headbutt

    Flying Headbutt Moderator Staff Member

    Dude I saw one that said the Pentagon was hit by a missile.
     
  8. Killick

    Killick Well-Known Member

    ... and Mark McGuire is absolutely clean, whatever.
     
  9. DyePack

    DyePack New Member

    Only the First Amendment is open to subjective interpretation, and that's only by certain writers and organizations. [SHIEEEEEEEEEEEELDLAW yeehawers]
     
  10. Stretch15

    Stretch15 Member

    Ratification isn't the point here, Ragu.

    The point they are making in the video is that the United States Supreme Court ruled in numerous cases that no new power of taxation was granted in the 16th Amendment. Therefore, there is no constitutional basis for an income tax.

    They spent a good chunk of time in the video taking with IRS officials asking to see a copy of the law where is mandates that citizens must pay income tax. And they could not provide it.

    It is difficult to argue with numerous on-the-record US Supreme Court decisions...
     
  11. zeke12

    zeke12 Guest

    Cocaine's a hell of a drug.
     
  12. JR

    JR Well-Known Member

    Anything on Youtube that starts with the sentence, "I set out on a journey to make a film" and is almost two hours long is immediately suspect.

    Besides, we've had enough youtube longwindedness here this week.

    Just out of curiosity, does this video have a "special guest".
     
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