Essay On 16th Amendment

The arguments regarding federal progressive income tax has been represented to us through the United States Supreme Court, on the floors of congress, and in media. The revenue from taxes reached the objective of financing wars from the Civil War through World War II. At the same time deteriorating the economy with fewer dollars that could be used on imports, exports, and services (Henchman). Today, the United States deficit is $18,800,241,350,538.12 this is a grand total of 58,405.32 owed by every man, woman, and child (Brown). The legal illusion is presenting the question, is income tax legal? There are Americans today who believe income tax is not legal and stand by their beliefs in a movement that has cost many individuals considerably. I am interviewing such a person, his name is Bobby Ray and the history he presented to me was interesting, and has left me with more questions than answers.

“When it came to levying taxes the Articles stated Congress could request states to pay taxes. The Constitution states Congress has the right to levy taxes on individuals” (Feldmeth, Greg D. "U.S. History Resources" http://home.earthlink.net/~gfeldmeth/USHistory.html (31 March 1998). “A federal court the Articles

3. The first income tax on individuals (after the ratification of the Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution) levied tax rates from a low of 2% to a high of 6%.

was eliminated in the United States Constitution, which allows the government to fairly tax every

Why were men allowed to fight in wars at the age of 18 but not allowed to vote? This all began in World War II and intensified during the Vietnam War. World War II began in 1941 and ended in 1961 which was a 20 years difference. Young men were being drafted for fighting in wars at the age of 18. They fought and protested for years because they wanted to be able to vote. Letting them vote affected a lot of people and things because it was many votes that counted towards helping the world out. This problem got passed in 1971 which became The 26th Amendment.

The Revenue Act of 1862 is the first instance of income tax in America. It imposed a progressive income tax rate on Union citizens in order to raise money for the war effort against the Confederacy. http://money.howstuffworks.com/personal-finance/personal-income-taxes/income-tax.htmThe income tax was abolished in 1872, declared unconstitutional in 1895, and then passed as an amendment in 1913.http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1986/winter/civil-war-tax-records.html Cite everything above! The 16th amendment states “The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several states, and without regard to any census or enumeration.” (YOU NEED

The first proposal to impose an income tax on Americans occurred during the War of 1812. After two years of war, the federal government had accumulated a whopping $100 million of debt. To fund the war against Britain, the government doubled the rates of its major source of revenue, customs duties on imports, which obstructed trade and ended up yielding less revenue than the previous lower rates. At the height of the war, excise taxes were imposed on goods and commodities, housing, slaves and land were taxed. Finally when the war ended in 1816, these taxes were abolished. A high tariff was then passed to retire the accumulated war debt. Thankfully, the notion of an income tax was conquered (Young, 2004). However, the thought of the income tax reappeared as an idea to fund the Union armies in the war to prevent the secession of the Confederacy. The war was expensive, costing on average $1,750,000 a day. Struggling to meet these expenses, the Republican Congress borrowed heavily, doubled tariff rates, sold off public lands, imposed a maze of licensing fees, increased old excise tax rates and created new excise taxes. But none of this was enough to fund the debt (Young, 2004)..

None of us who are alive today were alive during the PROHIBITON; prohibiting the manufacturing, transportation and selling of alcoholic beverages in the United States, which was known in the Constitution as Amendment 18. The drafting of the 18th Amendment was done by the Anti-Saloon League legislative lawyer, Wayne Wheeler. It’s said to have been written to diligently fight the turn to alcoholic substances to deal with life’s problems. Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Andrew J. Volstead, Sponsored the bill before Congress. With Amendment 18th’s ratification came an effect date delay. The government took this action to compensate the liquor industries with an ample amount of time to adjust to what was set to take effect and decimate the industries for at least 10 years. It’s ratification was certified on January 16, 1919, and the Amendment didn’t go into effect until

In 1861, Lincoln levied the first federal income tax by signing the Revenue Act. Needing cash with which to fund the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln and the Congress agreed to impose a 3 percent tax on annual incomes over $800.00. The wording of the Revenue Act was broadly written to define income as a monetary gain derived from any kind of property, or from any specialized trade, employment, or vocation carried on in the United States or elsewhere or from any source whatever. (A&E Television Networks, 2014)

(A) Historical meaning- The 16th amendment means that Congress can impose and collect taxes on the income of citizens. The 16th amendment was influenced by a certain court case and also by the Income Tax Act of 1894. The Income Tax Act was a law that taxed interest, dividends, and rents of citizens. The Supreme Court stated that the Tax Act was a direct tax and was labeled unconstitutional.

The nineteenth amendment to the United States Constitution states, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.” This amendment was ratified on August eighteenth of 1920 by the Secretary of State, Bainbridge Colby. The amendment did not get ratified till 1920, but the fight for women’s suffrage started long before, in the mid nineteenth century (General Records of the United States Government, 2002). Today many women assume that their right to vote as if it has always; however, this luxury has not long existed. The amendment is not even a hundred year old yet. The nineteenth amendment has great history behind it, strong women who led it, and effects on the way we live our lives today.

The anti-federalists did not feel that federal authority to tax should be authorized because that power would be abused. The anti-federalists also discussed in article 12 about congress being able to tax under the constitution. Alexander Hamilton answers the idea of possible abuse of taxation power by saying in Federalist Paper 30, “If the federal government should overpass the just bounds of its authority and make a tyrannical use of its powers, the people, whose creature it is, must appeal to the standard they have formed, and take such measures to redress the injury done to the Constitution as the exigency may suggest and prudence justify.” Hamilton is saying that the government should be held to a higher standard for taxes, and that if there is abuse of power that they would be held accountable for

The 18th Amendment of the Constitution which prohibited the sell of alcohol was first proposed in 1917, and then would get approved 2 years later in 1919. One year later on January 17, 1920 the Amendment would start to be in effect. Even before it was passed over half of the country had already banned it. Publically many had denounced it yet privately almost everyone thought the decision would be one they would soon end up regretting. With this law now in effect, there ended up being a rise in crime due to a rise in bootlegging which is the transportation of alcoholic beverages. The government was starting to face a dilemma because there was still a demand to drink, but people had no other option aside from obtaining it illegally.

To amend the constitution, various steps and procedures must be taken. When either Congress (which takes a two-thirds majority vote in both the Senate and the House of Representatives), or a constitutional convention (which takes two-thirds of the State legislatures) want to propose an amendment, they give it to the National Archives and Records Administration. The Congress proposes the amendment as a joint resolution to the National Archives and Records Administrations Office of the Federal Register for the publication process. The Office of the Federal Register adds legislative notes to the joint resolution and publishes it in slip law format. The Office of the Federal Register also puts together an information package for the States

Therefore, direct tax is legal when it is imposed on the artificial person. The state may directly tax, such as property, and Feds can implement a consumer tax which is indirect tax such as on gasoline, and purchase tax. Then on 2/03/1913, the 16th amendement introduces us to, ”The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without  apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration (US Constitution).” This amendment was illegal because not enough amount states authorized this Amendment (Bobby).