A hundred years of the federal income tax. One of the most disastrous fruits of the “Progressive” era. We got rid of Prohibition (at least for alcohol, but then replaced it with other drugs), but we still have that one.
[Update a while later after the Instatweet]
Link was missing before. Sorry!
More thoughts from Dan Mitchell, who thinks that this may be the anniversary of the worst day in American history.
Would we have intervened in WWII without an income tax? Would we have developed nuclear weapons, or space rockets, or interstate highways? What would 20th century history look like if the U.S. federal government had been funded at a much lower level?
How did America not only survive but thrive for over 100 years without an income tax?
It didn’t — there were income taxes to help pay for the Civil War.
They didn’t exist before the Civil War and not for long afterwards. Try again. How did America survive for over 100 years of its history without an income tax?
“Would we have intervened in WWII without an income tax? ”
In an alternate reality, there are any number of ways to generate revenue. As usual, there are more options than you want to allow people to choose from. But strangely enough, this is what the conflict between the big government fascist Democrat party under Obama and everyone else is all about.
Jim is absolutely right, and I will add to his litany. How would we have been able to fight the war in Vietnam, or invade Iraq without the income tax? How would we have ever indemnified the nuclear power industry, subsidize nuclear fuel production, and build then abandon a nuclear waste storage facility at Yucca Mountain? Would the Fish and Wildlife Service have been able to fund national shooting range symposia, designed in part to overcome local resistance to establishing shooting ranges for private citizens to practice firing weapons that have no other purpose than killing people? Would we have been able to save the smallpox virus from extinction, and keep it safe from harm in a biowarfare laboratory? Would the U.S. Health Service have been able to been able to conduct the Tuskegee syphilis experiment, where for 40 years they studied the progression of untreated syphilis in black people who were led to believe that they were receiving free government health care?
I could go on and on (and on) listing all of the wonderful things the income tax system has enabled the government to do. How could anyone object to it?
What would 20th century history look like if the U.S. federal government had been funded at a much lower level?
American citizens would have had a lot more money to spend on goods and services to make their lives more enjoyable and productive, at a minimum. So flying cars, moon resorts, and super-cheap energy, among other things.
You think Jim wants to give up his favorite means of picking your pockets?