Betty Freauf -- Frenzied, Foolish, Trusting, Faithful, Freedom Loving American Sheep

Now, that title is an oxymoron if I've ever seen one. Another one would be that these faithful taxpayers are "making haste slowly" across the nation succumbing to last-minute-mania to meet the April 15th I.R.S. deadline. But one of the funniest oxymoron's was a 3-27-1987 newspaper article that said, "each of us costs Uncle Sam an average of #3,391.00".

Some of the foolish ones, who loan their money to the government tax free by having too much taken from their checks, have probably already filed and received their refunds.

The frenzied taxpayers are searching through files and drawers for all those receipts to prove they qualify for certain deductions.

The big corporations, who have tax attorneys on staff, are looking for all the loopholes they can find.

But if we were free, with the exception of paying for a strong defense and infrastructure, we wouldn't be paying the excessive taxes we are now asked to "voluntarily contribute" - Another Oxymoron. [www.newswithviews.com/Betty/Freauf17.htm ]

Some will file extensions so they won't meet the April 15th deadline. It was reported on my T.V. news in March 2001 that 5% of the U.S. House of Representatives were delinquent, 4% of the U.S. Senate, 4.8% of the President cabinet and get this -- 1.7% of the I.R.S. employees were delinquent.

But why do we need all these taxes? Perhaps a letter a friend of mine received from Oregon's U.S. Senator Mark Hatfield in April 14, 1975 will help to explain. My friend had inquired about tax money being spent for farm subsidies paid to the Queen of England. The senator wrote, "According to the Taxpayers Union, the Delta Pine Land Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Courtauld's Ltd., in which the British Royal Family is a major stockholder, has been receiving payments for not planting cotton on their plantation in Mississippi. That last figure I saw for this payment was $68,000. As far as I know, it is completely legal for such a company to receive this payment," said the senator, who went on to state as a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, "I am determined to reduce the appropriations for the agencies which have been responsible for some of the most objectionable projects." Ya sure! Years ago landowners were clearing the land of sagebrush so they could plant commodities to feed the world. Today, in Eastern Washington, for example, the government is paying farmers not to plant wheat but, instead, to plant sagebrush.

A January 12, 1979 letter from the Department of Agriculture indicated Prudential Life Insurance Company had purchased the entire 28,000 acre operation from Delta Pine Land Company in October 1978 and a representative from Prudential in a February 14, 1979 letter confirmed this only they stated it was 38,000 acres -- a small 10,000 acre error by the Department of Agriculture.

Oregonians heard this Hatfield rhetoric years earlier when he was Oregon governor? In January 1967, a headline in an Oregon paper said, "Hatfield Plans Tax Reforms Program." Actually the only tax reforms Oregonians have seen in that period of time were done by John Doe citizen through the initiative process and then our elected officials try to find ways to chip away at these reforms. The most recent initiative was the defeat in January 2003 of a measure that the cowardly GOP-controlled House and Senate referred to a vote of the people during a number of their special sessions in 2002 when they were trying to desperately to balance the budget.

Oregon, like most other states, has been a tax and spend state. These mostly young yuppies who are being elected to these positions have never experienced any hard times during their lifetimes so they have the impression the pot will never run dry. Right now the Oregon legislature is in session and they are all wondering what socialist programs to cut in order to balance the budget as required by the constitution. They are borrowing from Peter to pay Paul and there was talk about using the tobacco settlement money as collateral on a loan; however, the March 29, 2003 A-P article said Philip Morris may not be able to cover what it legally owes. Ooops! It's back to the drawing board.

The Industrial News Review Digest publication of Hillsboro, Oregon reported in about 1974 that capital gains taxation rates were at the highest overall levels since the capital gains provisions of the tax laws were enacted in 1921 and The American Council on Capital Gains and Estate Taxation warned that, "To help restore some balance between incentives for savings versus consumption, the capital gains rates should have been reduced to the pre-1969 levels." And today "consumption" has won and savings are way down. Many people do not have sufficient money in savings to see them through hard times.

In 1986, globalist U.S. Senator and Republican Bob Packwood was in a tough re-election race against a virtual unknown minister in Oregon. In order to save Packwood's hide, President Reagan asked him to prepare a "Tax Reform Package" which got lots of local publicity. Of course, the "tax reform" resulted in more hot air and went nowhere but after Packwood's re-election he was later accused of sexual harassment and was brought down by the very pro-abort feminists he always supported. Those who say appease, appease are hung by those they tried to please. [www.newswithviews.com/Betty/Freauf4.htm]

Now that we are 30+ years down the road, we can see where the unprecedented rise in inflation, caused by our money no longer being backed by gold, has caused our "capital gains" to escalate to unbelievable numbers. "This capital gains tax has become a vicious device to redistribute wealth against basic principles of the American governmental system," said the Industrial article. "It presents the very threat of destruction from within that the founders of the United States feared might someday come. For as the resources of private citizens pass into the hands of government, freedom dies." And since that article was written, we, the people, are now considered "human resources."

These warnings that pop up off these musty smelling, yellow-with-age articles clearly illustrate there have been Americans who have called out the warning which our elected officials did not heed and as a result our country is bankrupt and there are going to be some mighty angry citizens on the dole in our respective states when these feel-good, vote-getting programs will have to be cut because they are finding out there is no such thing as a free lunch!

To simplify things at tax time, back in about June 1997 there was an article reporting a panel's recommendation that the I.R.S. could do our tax filings for us. A letter to the editor in our local paper replied that would be like "Geese guarding grain supplies," or "Children running candy stores," or "Alcoholics running the state liquor monopoly."

And I can't help but wonder what the I.R.S. will do this time around to those serving in the current "war on terrorism" in the Middle East. A December 2, 1990 article said that I.R.S. wasn't going to give breaks to the U.S. troops in the desert. Will it be the same thing this time?? That's about all the military needs right now -- sand in their food, up their noses and then they should worry about filing their income taxes too?

Could World Taxation under the auspices of the United Nations be next on the horizon? Paul Harvey wrote in a 1994 article that a global tax was a very real possibility. He indicated the U.N. was going to hold a World Summit Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1995 and included on its agenda was this global income tax and he said, "Guess who would end up paying most of that" reminding us that we are already being taxed to pay one-fourth of the United Nation's upkeep.

Maybe we should take a lesson from Switzerland. Harvey writes, "Once upon a time, Switzerland provided troops to fight in various European armies. These troops were not volunteers but rather were put at the disposal of foreign powers by treaties (called capitulations)."

He said, "France, for example, bought these guns-for-hire from Switzerland - paid money for them.

"In the 1525 Battle of Pavia, 100 Swiss died trying to protect Francis First of France.

"Under Louis XIV, Swiss guards defending the Tuileries Palace in Paris during the French Revolution lost 500 men.

"Napoleon used Swiss regiments in his Russian campaign of 1812; most were annihilated.

"In the July Revolution of 1830, more Swiss were massacred. It was after that that Switzerland learned to "Just Say No.!"

Harvey said "The Swiss Constitution of 1874 specifically forbids any military recruitment of Swiss to fight for anybody's else wars...

"Switzerland has learned that when any nation's reach exceeds its grasp, that nation grows weaker, not stronger."

And I personally believe that was also the intent of our Founders when President Washington admonished us to keep a strong national defense to protect our people but mind our own business and not get involved in the foreign affairs of other nations.

Harvey then says, "Now along comes this proposed global tax, presumably to force rich nations to help poor nations. The proposition is fraudulent. There are no 'rich nations' any more. Our own nation is bankrupt; our debts exceeding our reserves.

"Yet the United Nations' most recent Human Development Report," says Harvey, "is sharply critical of the United States for not giving more.

"Maybe this proposal for a world income tax will motivate our president to get the United Nations on the phone and "just say no" -- before, defending a mongrel flag, we bleed to death."

Let me end with April's Most Unpopular Day:

Now he's a common, common man, Tax him, tax him all you can. Tax his house and tax his bed, Tax the bald spot on his head. Tax his bread and tax his meat, Tax his shoes right off his feet. Tax his auto and tax his gas, Tax the road that he must pass. Tax the farmer, tax his fowl, Tax the dog and tax his howl. Tax his plow and tax his clothes, Tax the rags that wipe his nose. Tax the pig and tax his squeal, Tax his boots, run down at the heel. Tax his cow and tax his calf, Tax him if he dares to laugh. Tax the water and tax the air, Tax the sunshine if you dare. Tax the living, tax the dead, Tax the unborn 'fore they're fed. Tax them all and tax them well, do your best to make life hell." --Anonymous.

Betty is a former Oregon Republican Party activist having served as state party secretary, county chairman, 5th congressional vice chairman and then elected chairman, a precinct worker for many years and twice ran unsuccessfully for the Oregon State Legislature. The Republican tradition is to stay neutral in Primary races but in Betty's case. They supported her opponent. E-Mail: bettyfreauf@webtv.com

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