Other Metcalf Articles:
By Geoff Metcalf
June 2, 2003
NewsWithViews.com
For over a decade I have been interviewing an eclectic
collection of people about assorted tax issues. Bill Benson www.geoffmetcalf.com/qa/17398.html,
Bob Schultz
www.geoffmetcalf.com/qa/22255.html,
Devvy Kidd
www.geoffmetcalf.com/qa/21498.html,
Joe Banister
www.freedomabovefortune.com
and others have been involved in a jihad against the 16th Amendment (Income
Tax). They claim the 16th Amendment was never properly ratified and as
is null and void.
Frankly, as a purely academic exercise, the facts collected and documented by Benson demonstrate they are correct. However, the practical reality check is if you don't pay your income tax, you are subject to a world of hurt from government intent on compelling you to pay the "voluntary" tax.
Bob Schultz organization www.givemeliberty.org has made significant inroads in exposing the controversy and the government's refusal to officially address a long list of specific questions demonstrates both the arrogance and inability of officialdom to quash the tax freedom protestors. Some have suggested "if" Schultz et al are right, the government could "fix" historic problems with a congressional do over. But that would require admission of a 90-year government fraud�and that ain't gonna happen.
I recently spoke again with Banister, the former IRS Special Agent who resigned in the wake of his moral dilemma over enforcing unconstitutional laws. I told Joe I thought that "eventually" the 16th Amendment argument would become moot because sooner or later the feds would probably abandon the income tax in favor of some type of national retail sales tax.
Joan Veon, founder of The Women's International Media Group www.womensgroup.org, claims the recently approved Tax Package will change our entire tax code to a consumption tax.
I didn't see that and wasn't all that concerned until Veon went on to suggest that in the wake of compression of tax rates there would be a transition to a Value Added Tax.
I am loath to accept her conclusions but she is smarter than me and better informed. It is also significant to note that when she asked the Secretary of Treasury directly (face to face) if a Value Added Tax is in the offing for Americans, he reportedly refused to answer.
* Eliminating the income tax is a good thing.
* Implementation of some form of national retail sales tax could be a good thing.
* Adoption of a VAT (Value Added Tax) would be a very very bad thing.
Veon claims, "In order to shift to a tax on consumption, which will be a flat tax rate, the upper tax brackets have to come down and the lower tax brackets have to be raised�eventually the tax bracket will drop to 21% to 27% which is the rate that the Economic Advisers calculated that will equate the same income as we have currently.
I have interviewed dozens of people on this issue and notwithstanding different solutions, observations and prejudices, the two consistent elements about the tax flap are:
1. Any alternative tax plans to replace the income tax are designed to generate the same amount of money the government current extorts from the current system.
2. The feds already take too much money and squander it.
However, in order for any tax structure reconstruction to succeed, the solution must not interrupt the flow of our money to the government. Pollyanna 'realists' assert that this is a two front campaign and that FIRST we need to eliminate the income tax and THEN work on reducing the gross tax dollars being sucked up by the federal government.
Unfortunately, that dog won't hunt. To assume a government transisting from a 90-year old deception, deceptively finessing a new tax structure, will knowingly and willingly abandon receipt of Billions of dollars is frankly assuming facts not in evidence.
At some point in the not too distant future the government will kill the 1913 Income Tax structure AND claim bragging rights for having done so. HOWEVER, there "ain't no way, no how", they are going to willingly cut spending.
This is a complex issue and frankly, I have come to believe our would-be/wannbe controllers like it that way. Taxing could and should be simple. However, federal obfuscation has facilitated fraud, deception, and manipulation for decades�from the government perspective, "if it's not broke don't fix it�".
Incrementalism works! Any and all bad government programs have prospered by the analogy of "boiling the frog". How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.
This restructuring of the world's monetary system includes strengthening the United Nations system and empowering them through a global tax, adding an Economic Security Council and changing the IMF so that it functions as a World Central Bank.
I have always assumed (arguably incorrectly) that global taxation was the one worlder's erotic dream and could never happen. However, IF the tax systems of the world were consistent and standard it would then be a short step to 'tweaking' the IMF to function as a World Central Bank.
� 2003 Geoff Metcalf - All Rights Reserved
"Geoff Metcalf is a nationally syndicated radio talk show host for TALK AMERICA and a veteran media performer. He has had an eclectic professional background covering a wide spectrum of radio, television, magazine, and newspapers. A former Green Beret and retired Army officer he is in great demand as a speaker. . Visit Geoff's Web Site: www.geoffmetcalf.com. While you're at it - pick up a copy of Geoff's latest book! E-mail: geoff@geoffmetcalf.com
"This restructuring of the world's monetary system includes strengthening the United Nations system and empowering them through a global tax, adding an Economic Security Council and changing the IMF so that it functions as a World Central Bank."