Here's some links to good articles on how income tax came to be.

http://www.mises.org/freemarket_detail.asp?control=226&sortorder=articledate 
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a182247.htm 

excerpts:

Wartime "patriotism" made it possible to collect the 1862 tax, and Lincoln became the first president to tax incomes. Predictably, Congress increased the rates two years later. But the income tax had not achieved political legitimacy in peacetime. After the war, a falling deficit allowed the anti-tax forces to win the day. Rates fell, and, after much debate, the entire tax was scrapped in 1872--two years before it was statutorily set to expire.

The income tax began with class warfare - as an effort to soak the rich. And like that Russian proverb, the middle class ended up in the ditch it had dug for the wealthy. The tax passed from the rich not only to the middle class, but to nearly everyone.

To quiet the Democrats, Taft also proposed a Constitutional amendment to get around the Supreme Court. "The Congress," the amendment said, "shall have the power to lay and collect taxes on income, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration." But neither he nor other members of his party thought the amendment would ultimately pass.
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Congress passed America's first peacetime income tax in 1894. It was progressive, not in its 2% rate, but in the fact that it exempted 98% of the population. It was simply class legislation against the rich.

The idea of taxing only the rich and letting everyone else ride freely on the government was good politics in a democracy, because the vote of the top 2% was insignificant.

Eventually, the Supreme Court weighed in on the 1894 income tax. The case, Pollock vs. Farmer Loan & Trust Co., was one of the most celebrated of the time. The court ruled 5-4 that the tax was unconstitutional. Because it was, in part, a direct tax, it had to be apportioned among the states by population, the court said

Essentially, income tax was unconstitutional so they ammended the constitution. They tried to make the riched 2% of the population pay all the taxes but eventually the government grew larger and social programs expanded so more and more money was needed. The top 2% could no longer pay the whole bill so the government just keeps working it's way down the pay scale. Now the top 25% carries most of the burden.

Income tax has never been "fair" and is only legal because they ammended the constitution to make it law.

Man, I hate it when I have to do research and learn stuff!

Hey Penzt..you started this thread. Anyway a little research is good you and, seriously, I really appreciate you efforts here.
DB

your efforts (pardon my typos)

quote "How would you like it if you went to Burger King to order a Whopper and you had to pay $10.00 for it and some lazy schmuck only paid .25 for his because he has less disposable income?"

Please don't assume that those who make less than 28K are lazy schmucks. It is not easy living on very little (I used to do that, didn't like it)
Everyone has to start somewhere, by reducing the burden on the lowest paid, we make it more possible for them to climb.

I agree everyone has to start somewhere. But it seems too many young people want to live beyond their means and expect someone else to pay for it. Too many have kids they can't afford, drive cars they can't afford, spend money on the latest fashions, drink, and smoke.

I've got a 25 year old who is living at home again. He's moved out on his own twice. He has been working since he was about 15 years old. Bur he still doesn't get it. He makes 10.00 an hour. Here's where his money goes: He bought a new 900 Ducati Monster motorcycle about two years ago for about 12,000. Of course it wasn't cash. He's still paying for it. He recently financed a used Ford Explorer for about 6,000. He can't ride his bike year round like he could when he lived in Texas.

He went in debt to buy jewelry and watches at 21% interest. Gotta have the bling bling to impress the honeys! He buys $200 sneakers and $80 T-shirts. The words "wait until you can afford it" aren't in his vocabulary. Oh yeah, he also smokes and drinks. I know several of his friends. They're all good kids. And they all are living the same lifestyle that he is.

On the bright side, he is still single and hasn't fathered any kids. His life would be serious hell if had. He's also lucky that he has parents that love him. I figurs as long as he's not messing up his life terribly and he's single, he can eventually get it all together. I try to pass on advice and I think some of it is finally starting to sink in. He's even talking about taking some night classes.

Like so many other young people, I think he lives in a fantasy world. He sees stuff on MTV and thinks it's real. He wants a piece of it.

wow.

well, first off, let me apologize, because i personally hope to be one of the lucky folks who collect social security disability benefits -- ya know, the ones the i was paying into since i was 16 years old.

i guess i must have missed out on all the bennies given to the poor, though. i now make $0.00 annually after losing my job in 2002 after i was unable to continue working due to a decline in health.

one day i was taking a fedex package out for my employer. sprained my ankle when i slipped on the ice mound in front of the drop box. now i've got crippling nerve damage (wasn't "just a sprain" after all) and will most likely end up in a wheelchair in a couple of years and am trying hard right now not to lose my left leg to amputation.

i have no health insurance. i have no prescription insurance. if we had a child, we could afford to get our FAMILY onto my wife's insurance. for just us a couple, though, it's too expensive. it costs less to pay out of pocket than it does to pay the ridiculous premiums for a couple; a family is scarcely more than a single person, but a couple is over $500 per month with HIGH copays and few benefits.

i am not eligible for a single, solitary "welfare" benefit.

i receive no food stamps (when i married my wife in october, we became ineligible -- she makes $25k annually as a school teacher)

i receive no subsidy for any utilities; every month in the winter we wonder if we'll have our electricity (and thus our heat) shut off before we can make it to the next pay day (she's paid once a month).

my health continues to decline, at least in part because i cannot afford the tests that my doctors want me to have -- MRI? can't afford it out of pocket. Nerve Conduction Test? not at $1,000 a pop. Bloodwork? once a year maybe. Various heart-related tests? oh, you gotta be kidding.

my heart's still beating; let's just save a few hundred dollars and call that a positive sign.

it'll be like this for another year, minimum. yes, i AM looking forward to finally being approved for social security and the medicare health insurance that comes with it. makes me sad that folks think of me as being a "leech off the government" -- or off of them personally -- though. i wasn't bitching when i was working my butt off and paying for your parents' or grandparents' social security and medicare.

i'm sure it would be a lot more convenient if i'd just hurry up and die, but see my wife has a bit of a problem with that, and i really do have to respect her wishes in this case.

MonkeyK,

Fine they aren't all schmucks. But you still didn't answer my question.

Also, yes we do all have to start somewhere. I did. I went to college, got my first job, and paid a lot of rent for a hole of an apartment with paper thin walls. While in a different part of town people were living in nice apartments and not paying anything. I had a large college loan to pay back but did it. Heck we are still paying back my wife's loan. No handouts came my way and I did it. I paid my dues and should get my rewards. Others shouldn't get my rewards.

You know what I think? No free handouts. If you fall on hard times you shouldn't get free money. You should get a loan like for college. I bet a lot less people will be asking for money when they have to pay it back.

let me add to this a bit of what i DO have.

i have a 20 year old t.v. and a 15 year old vcr. i have a dinosaur microwave and a toaster oven we got as a wedding present. the other stuff i own because i WORKED for it. when i was able to work, i've most often held 2 jobs -- the only exception was the five years when i moved back into my parents' house in my 20's to care for them until their deaths (and i was in college then and also worked my way through that) -- that way they didn't have to suck any more of the public funds and go into a subsidized nursing home, although after all the years they worked hard, too, i say they would have earned it.

by the way, when i moved back in to care for my parents? though i was doing them a favor, i still insisted upon paying them rent. they were living on my dad's pension and social security; i didn't need much, and their health care expenses were outrageous.

i no longer have a car of my own. the engine blew, and i can't afford to fis it. my wife and i scraped up enough to by a (very) used pathfinder for $800 and with over 200K miles on it. she needs transportation to get to work and back. i need it for doctor's appointments. we don't exactly go joyriding to show off our bling bling car.

i cut my own hair. i have an oster buzzer that i bought, again, while i was working.

i can't remember the last time i bought new clothes, but i do know that it was when i was working and had a decent ($35k) salary. but i'm grateful for what i do have -- i sold most of my corporate clothes and now have mostly old sweat pants/shorts and t-shirts. i have a couple of old flannel shirts and 3 sweatshirts -- 2 of which i bought (again while working); the third i admit was NOT paid for by me -- it was given to me as a gift when i left the police force.

speaking of, i have no idea how much money i saved people when i was a cop. between being a first responder and saving folks in cardiac arrest (those burial expenses do add up!) to stopping home invasions, though, those two things alone saved a few folks a chunk of change i'm sure!

let's see... what other "luxury" items does my undeserving-because-i'm-poor self have? i have my computer. i tried to pawn it, but no one wanted it. it's not worth $30. my wife uses it for her work, too, so even selling it privately for $30 isn't worth it to us. and i can occasionally pick up $2-5 here and there doing surveys online. i made $7 last month! that's chump change to many of you; to me it was a big deal, though.

i don't drink alcohol. i'd like to have a glass of scotch now and then, but since being diagnosed as diabetic, even when i could afford to drink, i only had one maybe 1-2 times a year.

i do smoke. thanks primarily to the kindness of BOTLs, i'm able to continue to smoke cigars. WHEN our budget allows for it, i have $30/month for "personal expenses" -- that encompasses cigars, postage for trading/bombs/pifs, etc. as well as any additional personal needs -- extra bandages, for instance.

i was hoping to send out a couple of bombs this month, but i just had to spend the rest of my $ for the month on these special bandages that cost $2.50 each. sorry, guys, but i'd kind of like to not lose my leg if i can help it. i'm hoping to do a bombing run in april, and i hope the wounds on my leg are healed up by then, coz i'd much rather use that $2.50 to mail out a few cigars to a B/SOTL than to buy a stupid overpriced bandage.

i don't know of any more "luxuries" i have. i can assure you, though, that every thing i DO have was purchased with my/our own money and when i had a decent job.

from my ancient color t.v. to the cigar i'm going to smoke after i post this, though, i assure you that your tax dollars paid for NONE of it -- nor does it pay for the 30+ year-old place that we rent or any of the food that's prepared within it or a stitch of clothing on my back or the doctors who try to keep that back somewhat functional at least.

just a few words from one of those lazy-ass undesireable poor folks out there perceived as living so high off the hog while simultaneously sucking all the money you have left over after you pay for your nice wheels, nice house, nice clothes, nice food, and nice toys!

if you can find anything of mine that was paid for by your tax dollars, though, you're welcome to come and take it back!

I'm not against all forms of support but I think there is too much abuse of the system. I think that disability and Medicare insurance are good things. But they shouldn't be expected to last a lifetime unless the individual is physically incapable of returning to work. I don't think social security as a retirement plan is good or economically viable for the future. Hopefully, your health will improve and you'll be able to re-enter the workforce some day.

Life is all about choices. You chose a profession as did your wife. Those choices come with certain advantages and disadvantages as well as risks. I also made choices. I joined the military when I was 17. I got married the day after I turned 19 and we had our first child shortly after that. We rented a furnished apartment in the Philippines that was very inexpensive. When we left the Philippines to move to California we owned a dining table, papasan chair, and a crib. When we got to California we bought a used mattress set and put in on the floor in our bedroom. We used cardboard boxes for everything else (dresser, coffee table, night stand). For the first year, we didn't even own a TV. We walked everywhere or took public transportation because we didn't own a car. Hell, we didn't even have driver's licenses. We ate a lot of spaghetti. Life isn't always easy but that doesn't mean that someone else has the responsibility to take care of us.

penzt: my own rant wasn't really against what you had to say. it's the notion that ANYONE who is on ANY kind of govt program is lazy scum. first off, i PAID for social security; not just anyone gets on this -- you have to have worked a certain number of years for a certain number of hours at certain types of jobs to be eligible, and even with disability, it can take YEARS to get a) accepted and b) paid.

i MADE good choices. i climbed out of the 'hood and got good grades and worked my butt off to go to college (for six years) and i got the good job(s) and put my money aside for a rainy day/retirement -- but all of that changed in just a few seconds. all of that can be GONE in an instant, and good choices have nothing to do with it. all the money i saved and put aside? doesn't take long for that to disappear when you get slammed by a disabiling health condition.

not a single year of my work in law enforcement counts towards social security, btw. the years i worked without a badge and uniform are the only ones that count. luckily i've worked for enough years in the corporate and academic world ON TOP OF my work in law enforcement to be eligible. it's still no cake walk, though. after over 1 year of red tape, i've had to do as most do and get an attorney -- and he'll get 25% off the top of my retro benefit award.

yeah, i do hope to be able to return to work someday. it's not looking like a possibility, though. there's no retraining program for me -- i am HIGHLY skilled in several viable areas-- corporate, municipal/
government, academic; that's not the problem. the problem is strictly physical, and that is not something very likely to get better unfortunately; it's likely to continue to worsen.

as for choices -- yes, we all have them. when i faced an injury on the job in law enforcement that left me unable to walk for a year, i had to make a different choice career-wise, and i did so successfully. it's not that i've made one career path choice and it didn't work out -- i have a very impressive resume. 🙂

the intelligence is there. the skills are there. the good choices are there. but when the body is FUBAR, it wipes out all of that.

do i expect for you good folks to put aside your jacuzzis and beamers so that i can eat and have medication? nope. i don't. however, i DO expect to benefit from a system that I PAID INTO -- and that has already taken care of OTHER people who came before me.

if your grandmother's on social security, i helped pay for that. if your dad is disabled, i helped pay for his health care. i certainly wasn't getting a thing out of it when i was paying my taxes and fees and such; someone else benefitted from that.

do you want to live in a country where, when someone is old or disabled, you kick them out into the streets to beg as best they can? wow. i sure don't want that. i didn't want it when it was my money going for their care, and i don't want it now that lightning has stricken me -- and it can happen to you, too.

any one of you can do all the right things now and tomorrow find yourself in my shoes.

two years ago, i was making the same rants.

I don't think that everyone that benefits from a government program is lazy scum. Hey, I get a military retirement check and a VA disability check every month. I also have medical and prescription coverage. I served in uniform for 21 years and earned them.

I also know what you mean about the workers comp system being slow and bureaucratic. My sister in law had to go through the same thing to get her workers comp and medical benefits when she was injured at work. She worked for a company for about 14 years and ended up with a work related shoulder injury that prevented her from continuing to due the job. Her injury was basically a repetitive stress injury from lifting and operating the same equipment for many years.

She took all of her sick leave to get treatment and recover and when it ran out, they basically cut her loose. No medical and no workers comp. She has not made a full recovery and will not be able to return to her previous employment. She had to get a lawyer to sue them. She won her case but like you said, her lawyer is going to get a chunk of the money. She is working again but had to take a job making significantly less money than she was earning prior to her injury.

Excerpt from Greenspan article:

Greenspan said that erecting protectionist barriers was not the answer to foreign competition and that Congress would at some point have to address the problem of the pending retirement of 77 million baby boomers. He repeated his warning that Congress will have to trim future Social Security benefits.

Greenspan said the issue was that government did not have the resources to meet all the retirement benefits currently pledged under Social Security and Medicare and that choices would have to be made and "all the choices regrettably are negative."

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=&e=3&u=/ap/20040311/ap_on_bi_ge/greenspan 

penzt: again, that wasn't directed to you personally -- or to anyone here personally.

and my apologies for the rant. i've been on a roller coaster painwise recently, and i'm considerably grumped out about it. add a change of medication to the mix, and i feel about like a pit bull with pms. 🙂

i'm sorry to hear about your sister, and i hope things out okay there (i'll keep her in my prayers). :/ my situation's not with worker's comp but with social security -- same kind of hurdles, though.

i had the opportunity to file a worker's comp claim and declined to do so -- i didn't want to hassle my employer over a sprained ankle. i declined to take worker's comp years before when i hurt my back on the job in uniform, too. i've been told that i was stupid for not doing so, but at the time it just didn't seem like the Right Thing To Do. after getting screwed over by the city, i did eventually get an attny and settled with them for my medical costs only -- again, i've been called stupid and naive for NOT requesting worker's comp because, as i've been told, i could still be collecting from those injuries today.

sorry, but i don't see getting hurt on the job as being a ticket to free money. (just so you know, i'm not accusing your sister of doing that at all). i've seen it happen, though, and it pissed me right off.

it's another system that gets abused. frankly, it's a lot easier to get WC than it is to get SSDI. it's a shame, too, because it seems like the folks who REALLY should be eligible are the ones who have to fight the hardest to get it while those who get hurt at work (often for something their own fault) end up sucking money out of their employers for years.

i guess i would just like to see all things like this operate as they were intended to -- if you need it, it's there; if you don't, then don't try to scam it. unfortunately, a lot of scammers win out, and a lot of folks in genuine need (and who genuinely have earned it) get screwed. that goes for everything from workers comp to SSDI to welfare of all kinds. :/

and i do hope we can find a way to reform ALL of these programs to make sure it's fair to all concerned.

btw, my ex-gf was absolutely against military bennies -- "once you're out, that's it!" she'd say. she was ticked off that "her" money was going to give medical treatment, for instance, to someone who was no longer active military. i disagreed vehemently with her on that, but there was no convincing her that "her" money wasn't getting "wasted" on "these bums" who CHOSE a job that was dangerous. so why should SHE have to pay for it if they were hurt?

oy.

er, sorry -- i meant your SIL, not sister (in post above).

Well, I think we've run this thread into the ground.