06-03-2015, 10:30 AM
(06-03-2015, 10:22 AM)michaelsean Wrote: I never really understood why an income tax was unconstitutional before the 16th amendment. The Constitution seems pretty broad in allowing Congress to create taxes.
An income tax is what is referred to as a direct tax. Indirect taxes are those such as sales taxes where you pay it to the seller and then the seller files the return, or an excise tax or tariff, same deal. The person actually paying the tax is not the filer. The Constitution provided the authority for Congress to levy taxes, however, if it is a direct tax it must be apportioned among the states. Essentially, this meant that a federal income tax could not be used to federal revenues, so much as it would be to give money to the states to pay their expenditures.
The 16th allows for Congress to levy direct taxes without having to apportion them among the states because up until that point they had to rely on excises and tariffs to pay the federal bills.
"A great democracy has got to be progressive, or it will soon cease to be either great or a democracy..." - TR
"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." - FDR
"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." - FDR
