Tax Breaks
-Ken Shields

Well, what do you know?

The Senate actually approved a tax cut of $350 billion. President Bush wanted $550 billion but the Democrats bashed it down until they were able to accept the cost to the government. Imagine that! It costs the government to give us a tax cut. That's the small-minded way to think of it. People just don't realize that activity is stimulated by tax cuts because people have self-interest and produce more when they can keep more of their own money. Now I have a question.

Why don't the politicians, who borrow money ad nauseum, just admit that the income tax is voluntary and tell people you can volunteer out? Don't believe me? The publications from the IRS all state that compliance is voluntary. A long time ago when I had to take a law class, we studied a case about a man who was charged with violating some federal anti-gambling statutes. The feds used his income tax return against him where he wrote that his occupation was a professional gambler.

He argued that, since filing a 1040 return was mandatory, it couldn't be used against him because it violated his 5th amendment right against self-incrimination. This one went all the way to the Supreme Court where the honorable justices ruled that he waived his 5th amendment rights because filing a form 1040 is voluntary. No kidding. We should ask Jim Demint why he just doesn't encourage people to stop filing.

Imagine what would happen if a significant number of Congressmen did that. We'd get tax reform real fast, wouldn't we? Of course, there are those that think not paying taxes is unpatriotic and the government needs the money. That's ridiculous. Withholding tax revenue is one way we have of making our wishes known to our illustrious representatives. Remember, it's the sovereign American nationals who created the government. The problem is, the way the system works, it would like a non-binding referendum. Judge Learned Hand stated anyone could arrange his affairs to minimize or eliminate taxes and no duty is owed to be generous to the tax man (paraphrased). Besides, no matter how much is collected in taxes, the government spends more. Notice that the borrowing of our representatives is out of control. The only reason for taxes is to keep inflation under control Now that we have a dumping ground for excess dollars in Iraq for a while, it's not so important to collect those taxes and THAT'S why we got the tax cut. Do yourself a favor, learn about the tax system and minimize them for yourself. Don't look for any significant help from Washington.

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Ken Shields has a web site at www.dollarsand nonsenseonline.com you can visit if you want more information or to contact him.

The Times Examiner, 6-4-03