Charles Adams "For Good And Evil" – The Impact of Taxes On The Course Of Civilization https://t.co/tqc2V68eW3 via @USCitizenAbroad
— U.S. Citizen Abroad (@USCitizenAbroad) December 31, 2015
This post is largely based on an earlier post at the RenounceUScitizenship blog.
I accidentally came across an incredible book by Charles Adams called:
For Good and Evil – The Impact of Taxes on the Course of Civilization.
One review is here.
This is a tremendous book. I specifically recommend Chapter 37 “Learning From The Past”. I remain convinced that the single biggest threat to the United States (and possibly the rest of the world) is the complexity of the Internal Revenue Code of the United States. Mr. Adams is a brilliant tax historian who demonstrates how the history of civilizations may be understood by studying the history of their tax policies. At the present time the United States is under direct attack. The attack is NOT coming from outside the United States (no it’s not from Americans abroad). The attack is coming from the lethal combination of a corrupt Congress that does evil by tinkering with the Internal Revenue Code.
This is not the first time that I have posted about Charles Adams at the Isaac Brock Society. In an earlier post, I introduced Mr. Adams as follows:
Here are some of what Charles Adams considers to be the 27 lessons from the history of taxation (page 452 of the first edition of his book: “For Good and Evil – The Impact of Taxes On The Course of Civilization“):
11. If liberty is to be defended with success against the dominance of the state, then financial privacy must be preserved. Banking privacy is one the cornerstones of liberty, having its roots in the principle of early English Law that a man’s castle (primarily his treasury) is beyond the surveillance of the king.
24. Taxes that are not apportioned among all taxpayers with impartiality and fairness lose all force of moral obligation.
Mr. Adams was writing in 1993 before FATCA and the “FBAR Fundraiser“.
In any event, I am thrilled to see that the Mises Institute hosted Charles Adams for a week of seminars (which are based on the book).
Better yet, the seminars are (the wonders of technology) available below on YouTube. I haven’t listened to them yet. But, if they are like the book. Mr. Adams will give you a model to understand tax policy and the impact that it is sure to have on the future of the United States.
Incredible stuff! Highly recommend (and no I have never met Mr. Adams.) I hope that you take the time to listen to some of the videos.
Lecture 8
Lecture 9
The tax problem, as I see it, is the Progressive Marxist Income Tax. Remember Marx said in the second chapter of The Manifesto, later co opted by the Soviet Union and The 16th amendment to our constitution,
that he wanted a progressive income tax to destroy the middle class. When he is finished with us we will no longer be The United States. We will be the United States of Anarchy. Having collapsed from over spending, the inability to pay even the interest of the national debt, much less any principle. When those who vote for a living are no longer able to get their subsidy because of this collapse they will try another way and that is force.
It is a shame that one small committee of the House of Representatives could, for the sake of campaign contributions, keep us from having a tax system that would sustain us. If the FairTax was passed, and this committee held not power to extort contributions, was put out of business, along with a balanced budget amendment to the constitution, we’d really be great again.
They all know it, including the new speaker of the house, but want to money so badly they won’t even give the FairTax Bill a hearing for fear someone will understand it and tear up their little kingdom.
Why do you thing all the establishment hates Trump and Cruz. They have both vowed to tear up the status Quo.
This NYT interview with Mr Adams from 1993 offers many very interesting (and currently relevant) observations from the author:
…”I believe we’ve lost something when we tolerate the degree of public intrusion that we do,” he says. “Our tax system is now a spy system.” The problem, he argues, is that American taxes have lost their sense of fairness. “When you feel the system is a rip-off on you and a loophole for somebody else, then it loses its moral persuasion, and the Government has to fall back on heavy criminal penalties.”…
…”The Islamic tax policy is one reason for Islam’s spread, he says. Vanquished peoples were given three choices: convert and pay no tax; keep your own religion and pay a head tax, or be put to death.”…
A shortage of revenue developed, Mr. Adams notes wryly, because of a shortage of infidels. Islam’s head tax antedated our own sin taxes, which President Clinton proposes to raise on cigarettes to pay for health care.”…
http://www.nytimes.com/1993/10/03/weekinreview/conversations-charles-w-adams-rise-fall-civilization-according-tax-collection.html
If common sense makes experts of us all, it’s easy to see that a tax system as bloated and ineffective at producing the amount of revenue that it needs to is doomed to fail. Those left feeling like they’re holding the bag for everyone else – the poor schmuck who has his pound of flesh taken before he can get his hands on the fruits of labour should feel the most aggrieved. Namely the middle class – or what’s left of it. Interesting to see how all of this will play out over the remainder of this presidential election campaign.
“Islam’s head tax antedated our own sin taxes, which President Clinton proposes to raise on cigarettes to pay for health care.”
Hey that’s not fair. A tax on tea was a sin tax, because rulers were offended by the ability of poor people to enjoy a small mercy. A tax on cigarettes is more like a fine for committing assault, when the smoker poisons the air that others must breathe.
I personally think tobacco should be made illegal. The tax on tobacco products is blood money. At least it’s voluntary, though.
@Bubblebustin wrote: “Those left feeling like they’re holding the bag for everyone else – the poor schmuck who has his pound of flesh taken before he can get his hands on the fruits of labour should feel the most aggrieved.”
That is not correct. The psychology of taxation, well known to those who write and those at the top of the pyramid responsible for implementing tax law is this: everybody gets deductions and credits and exemptions. Everybody feels s/he has a vested interest, a special privilege. In fact the wealthy benefit far more, but the way the psychology plays out is that those at the bottom don’t complain.
In fact those “at the bottom” pay mostly payroll taxes (FICA, NIC, CPP/QPP as the case may be, and assorted additions such as unemployment, medicare, maternity, etc., etc. tend to be repaid out of proportion to the tax. Especially in the USA where Social Security pensions are skewed in favour of the low-paid, hence the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) that claws back the subsidy for those earning less than a certain amount over many years who also qualify for another pension: typically CPP, CSR (US civil service), etc.
As so often it’s the middle classes who are taxed disproportionately. And the very wealthy who pay the largest dollar amount (but less percentage-wise than the others) because that’s where the money is.
“Progressive taxation” is hardly a threat to the middle classes or the bourgeoisie. If it were, it would no longer be “progressive”, usually defined as brackets that increase with earnings. What constitutes the scam is that the very rich earn untaxed income (unrealised gains, and even if the gains are taxed they are taxed preferentially. But, in defence of that remember this: much or most of gains are due to inflation, which is another tax, imposed by government policy.)
Much more could be said, but I’m not going to bore you with a long lecture on fiscal policy and tax law.