Date: Fri, 21 Feb 1997 19:36:42 -0500 (EST) Subject: Tax-Rates in 1916 - How Citizens were duped. From: josephnewman@earthlink.net (Evan Soule) Thought you might find the following of interest: I have in my possession an original printed Treasury Department [U.S. Infernal (sic) Revenue] booklet entitled, "Regulations No. 33 (Revised) Governing the Collection of the INCOME TAX Imposed by the Act of September 8, 1916, as Amended by the Act of October 3, 1917.] Please realize that this is the tax info for three years *after* the first year of 1913-14 -- so the tax rates are a bit higher than when *first* introduced. With respect to the tax rate: on page 6 of this document it specifically states that: "Article 3: The income tax is of two kinds -- normal and additional -- and is levied by the acts of Sept. 8, 1916 and Oct. 3, 1917." "The normal tax is levied upon the net income in excess of allowable deductions, credits, and exemptions. Subject to these allowances, this tax is *** 2 per cent *** under each Act on the total net income from all sources received by a citizen or resident alien in the preceding calendar year." "The additional tax is the tax levied, at graduated rates, upon the net income in excess of $5,000." [This was in 1917. In 1916 it read "in excess of $20,000." --- In one year it was lowered $15,000 to increase taxation!] Please realize that the dollar figures in this booklet are ****GOLD DOLLARS****. To __conservatively__ adjust for inflation, I will henceforth multiply the figures by a factor of 20 -- although there are those who would say that a factor of 30 or even 40 would be more accurate. Let's just stick with a factor of 20. What this means (in today's dollars) is (to adjust for inflation): "The additional tax is the tax levied, at graduated rates, upon the net income in excess of $100,000." [This was in 1917. In 1916 it read "in excess of $400,000." --- In one year it was lowered $300,000!] Now the even more interesting part: From page 25: the following are the graduated additional tax rates and amounts of income subject hereto (adjusted for inflation by a conservative factor of 20): ________________________________________________________ Act of Sept. 8, 1916 Amount Subject to Tax Total (in percent) $ 100,000 to 150,000 0 $ 150,000 to 200,000 0 $ 200,000 to 250,000 0 $ 250,000 to 300,000 0 $ 300,000 to 800,000 1 $ 800,000 to 1,200,000 2 $1,200,000 to 1,600,000 3 $1,600,000 to 2,000,000 4 $2,000,000 to 3,000,000 5 $3,000,000 to 4,000,000 6 $4,000,000 to 5,000,000 7 $5,000,000 to 6,000,000 8 $6,000,000 to 10,000,000 9 $10,000,000 to 15,000,000 10 $15,000,000 to 20,000,000 10 $20,000,000 to 30,000,000 11 $30,000,000 to 40,000,000 12 In excess of $40,000,000 income per year 13 ________________________________________________________ So, as of 1916, if you made over $40,000,000 per year, your additional tax amount was $5,200,000. And if you made $800,000 per year, your additional tax amount was $8,000. The vast majority of Americans paid very little or no taxes whatsoever. This is the manner in which this political "Let's Make A Deal" was sold to the American people in 1913. But the super wealthy people were either grandfathered-in with tax-exempt Trusts/Foundations (the Mellons, Rockefellers, Morgans, Vanderbilts, Astors, Rothschilds, etc.), and/or many wealthy people soon discovered how to protect most of the assets from the IRS agent. In fact, I once heard it said that one purpose of the "Income Tax" was to keep "up-and-coming" entrepreneurs "in their place" and to prevent as many as possible from amassing real fortunes which could compete with the financial ascendency of the "super weathy" families -- many of who supported the introduction of the "Income Tax" as a tactic to maintain their financial ascendency and for the bureaucrats to "get their foot in the door" or their "hand in the (income) wallet" of the average American. The point I'm trying to make is that -- as originally introduced by those who were pushing for an "Income Tax" -- they repeatedly stated that this new tax would __only__ be a tax on the VERY wealthy -- and even then, it would be a VERY, VERY SMALL TAX in terms of percentages. In my opinion, these individuals committed a fraud upon the American people. This fraud has now reach confiscatory levels. It was once estimated that: Supposing a gallon of gasoline cost $1.00. How much of this is indirect or direct taxes? I would estimate that between $.90 - $.95 is tax-created; the other 5 - 10 is actually the cost of the gasoline itself. Where would our free enterprise economy really be without the confiscatory shackles of what some call "legalized theft" currently imposed upon it? Yes, confiscatory levels. And still the bureaucracy is not satisfied. Many politicians and bureaucrats want to raise still MORE taxes on MORE items throughout the various levels of the political state --- local, state, federal, (and now) international -- e.g., the so-called "debt" to the U.N. The real problem with the introduction of the "Income Tax" in 1913 is that -- for the first time --- it became fiscally possible to eventually fund the MASSIVE expansion of a political bureaucracy which, like a cancer, is slowly engulfing much of the productive energy of what remains of our free enterprise system. And yes, as it has been said, "War is the Health of the State." WWI was an excuse on the part of Federal politicians/bureaucrats to expand the political bureaucracies and thus an excuse to expanding the financing for these bureaucracies, i.e, to began to seriously tax the income of the average American. But it didn't stop. WWII was again an excuse on the part of Federal politicians/bureaucrats to MASSIVELY expand the scope of the Federal bureaucracies, thus requiring still more funds taken by political decree from the independent, productive sectors. Ditto for the Korean War, Vietnam War, etc..... Not to mention the social costs of these wars which in turn generate still more bureaucracy which creates a need for higher levels of confiscatory taxation which creates inbalances in our productive sector which creates a cry for yet more political intervention which creates yet more bureaucracies which creates a need for still higher levels of confiscatory taxation which .... and on, and on, and on...... until................ we have the DEFICIT. And who will have to deal with this DEFICIT? We will. And so too will our children. Just the "interest" on this incredible DEFICIT now exceeds by a large measure the productive earnings of millions of Americans. Yes, those receiving such "interest" do seem to be in the "driver's seat." Only problem: they are driving a vehicle which is headed for a chasm of fiscal, cultural, and societal chaos. I wish I could paint a rosier picture. But I tend to be an pessimist. Or, rather, please let me clarify this: I'm a _short-term_ pessimist and a _long-term_ optimist. Baring a complete societal catastrophe, I believe our Species will reach the stars and that we WILL find more innovative methods of social interaction than that of coercion and political bureaucracy: these latter are outdated methods which we have de facto inherited from our ancestors back to the dawn of humanity. A _long-term_ solution lies in the direction of imagination and innovation. Sic Itur Ad Astra, Evan Soule' Director of Information NEWMAN ENERGY PRODUCTS josephnewman@earthlink.net (504) 524-3063 P.O. Box 57684, New Orleans, LA 70157-7684 Websites: http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/6087 http://www.infochase.com/us/master/index.html http://www.angelfire.com/biz/Newman/index.html ============================================================================== From: "Bruce Niss" Subject: Re: Tax-Rates in 1916 - How Citizens were duped. Date: Mon, 24 Feb 1997 14:40:03 -0500 I have long concluded a similar observation with regard to zoning laws and the real estate industry in New York City. Arguing that zoning would protect the public welfare, the wealthy real estate barons, such as Astor and Rochefeller, encouraged these new laws in 1919, since these laws grandfathered (protected) existing land use; thus denying newcomers the same privileges. Another fraud and further confiscation by the organized criminals we call "government." 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