> > History quiz for you: On what did the federal government subsist, and > more > > importantly _why_, prior to 1913? > > > > - Bob > > > I'm not exactly sure of the answer to your question, but I'm sure your > going to tell me. Anyway, my guess would be that at some point after > the American revolution and independence, the USA created its own > currency. Perhaps the USA government was financed by deficits and > individual contributions before the income tax system was developed. > > Regards, > > LelandJ
Wow, even I didn't think you'd flub that one so spectacularly. I should know better. No, the entire revenue was paid for by a tariff on articles of manufacture ranging from 10% ad valorem when it was first adopted, very deliberately, by our Founders in 1789, to a height of 40% ad valorem during various periods in our pre WWI history. There was no "favorite nation" status---all articles of foreign manufacture were taxed, period, although often different products were taxed at different rates (yea even then the urge to micromanage and reward lobbyists was occasionally too strong even for our elder statesmen of the past to resist--such is the way of all flesh). Conversely, by design of our Founders there was no federal tax on domestic labor whatsoever. An American capitalist employing his capital in the support of American labor and industry also paid no tax at all to the federal government, neither did his workers. I can supply endless quotes by the Founders and various statesmen through the first 150 years that affirm this policy was intentional, and had its intended effect. This policy was the key to our large-scale capital accumulation and ascendency to superpower status during the first 150 years of our existence as a nation. The debate in Washington was always between a High Tariff vs. a Very High Tariff Policy, until the modern era, when statism and social engineering experiments became all the rage, and the financiers saw these extremely costly utopian social schemes as a way to make usury popular again. Chronic deficit spending is a modern phenomenon, and seems essential to the hocus pocus behind fractional reserve banking. Prior to the income tax, the government could not spend more than it actually received in revenue. Today it can pull money out of the great big credit card in the sky, and tax generations that don't even exist yet. After 1913, and through the 1950's, the government practically abolished all tariffs and today they actively promote sending American capital to employ foreign labor through the tax code, which literally punishes capital investment domestically. Now the debate is between a High But Somewhat Less Progressive Income Tax and a Very High and More Progressive Income Tax. Except now because of these trade and tax policies of the last century, nearly 150 years of uninhibited capital accumulation has been wiped out, and we have no manufacturing base to spur real capital accumulation moving forward; consequently our transition to a third rate economic power over the next couple of decades is all but assured. This has been a thoroughly bipartisan effort and both parties deserve infamy for it, despite their very different ideological reasons for supporting the policy. - Bob _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/[EMAIL PROTECTED] ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
