More than 30 years ago I hosted a Ramapo College produced cable television show that aired on a New Jersey public access channel. When I hosted a show on taxation one of my guests was a left-wing economics professor who advocated a 100% tax on incomes above $100,000 per year. (I always had guests from at least two perspectives on contemporary issues. I was and still am a huge proponent of “diversity.”) My colleague was a personable individual who used his classroom back then to push his Marxist ideology. In fact, one of his students told me he forced the class to attend a pro-labor rally in Trenton. This was an egregious abuse of power—an incident I did not recall in my memoir.
At any rate, if a recent Ninth Circuit decision is upheld by the Supreme Court the American people’s taxes will skyrocket. (This essay by Christopher Cox and Hank Adler should not be read if you suffer from high blood pressure. I guarantee you will blow a “gasket” if you read it!)
The gist of the decision is that states can tax “undistributed” income of individuals, in effect taxing their wealth in addition to income received from investments is a gross violation of a long standing generally accepted principle of taxation. It reveals how judges are not applying constitutional principles from the bench.
The tax on wealth would be another assault on the America people’s financial well-being. However, we already have a wealth tax. It is called the “property tax.” Homeowners and owners of commercial real estate are in effect taxed on the assessed value of their property, which has no relation to their income.
There are solutions to the tax and spend polices of the federal, state and local governments, which I outlined in Tax Free 2000 (1995). (As an aside, one of my former students posted a review which makes an erroneous interpretation of my proposal to deal with crime.)
First and foremost, the federal and state income taxes should be abolished. Second, property taxes should be abolished. What would replace them? Nothing. How then would all levels of government pay for the “services” they provide? Virtually all government services would be paid for either by voluntary contributions of the people or these services would be provided by the private and/or nonprofit sectors. In Tax Free 2000 I explain the timeline to “desocialize” America.
Yes, we can phase out all social welfare spending over several years by restoring a constitutional federal budget and abolishing the Federal Reserve’s legalized counterfeiting. WE can end the bureaucratic regulatory nightmare which is harassing businesses large and small. And most important we can end the endless wars and bring the troops home from all over the planet.
Lew Rockwell, founder of the Mises Institute, endorsed my book with these words found on the back cover.:
“Murray Sabrin is a libertarian hero. In his compelling Tax Free 2000, he shows us the statist mess we’re in, and how it can’t get much worse. But he also shows us the way out, calls us to arms, and inspires us to do the hard work of liberty. Sabrin is the Thomas Paine of the coming tax revolution.”
The Second American Revolution could be well underway if all libertarians, constitutional Republicans, pro civil liberties Democrats (are there any left?) and antiwar Americans forge a grand coalition to restore the republic.
This is the opportunity to take back the country from the warmongering neoconservatives and welfare statists in both major parties, AKA the Washingtonians.
You are either for liberty, free enterprise, civil liberties and a peaceful foreign policy or you are not. There is no “middle road.”
It is time to choose.