Tax Time Tuesday!

Retired journalist Charley Reese was part of the Orlando Sentinel's staff for three decades.  Between 1971-2001, one of his duties was to write a thrice-weekly column that was distributed to other newspapers nationwide by King Features Syndicate.  During the 1980s, Reese wrote the first version of an editorial opining that 545 people (i.e., the President of the United States, plus all the members of Congress and the Supreme Court) "are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country."  He has amended, updated, and republished that piece several times since then.  The version cited below is taken from the March 7, 1995, edition of the Orlando Sentinel.

Looking for Someone to Blame? Congress is a Good Place to Start.

Politicians, as I have often said, are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.

Everything on the Republican contract is a problem created by Congress.  Too much bureaucracy?  Blame Congress.  Too many rules?  Blame Congress.  Unjust tax laws?  Congress wrote them.  Out-of-control bureaucracy?  Congress authorizes everything bureaucracies do.  Americans dying in Third World rat holes on stupid U.N. missions?  Congress allows it.  The annual deficits?  Congress votes for them.  The $4 trillion plus debt?  Congress created it.

To put it into perspective, just remember that 100% of the power of the federal government comes from the U.S. Constitution.  If it is not in the Constitution, it is not authorized.  Then, go and read your Constitution.  All 100% of the power of the federal government is invested solely in 545 individual human beings.  That is all.  Of 260 million Americans, only 545 of them wield 100% of the power of the federal government.

That is 435 members of the U.S. House, 100 senators, 1 president, and 9 Supreme Court justices.  Anything involving government that is wrong is 100% their fault.

I exclude the vice president because constitutionally he has no power except to preside over the Senate and to vote only in the case of a tie.  I exclude the Federal Reserve because Congress created it and all its power is power Congress delegated to it and could withdraw it anytime it chooses to do so.  In fact, all the power, exercised by the 3 million or so other federal employees, is power delegated from the 545.  All bureaucracies are created by Congress or by executive order of the president.  All are financed and staffed by Congress.  All enforced laws are passed by Congress.  All operate under procedures authorized by Congress.  That is why all complaints and protests should be properly directed at Congress, not at the individual agencies.

You don't like the IRS?  Go see Congress.  You think the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms agency is running amok?  Go see Congress.

Congress is the originator of all government problems and is also the only remedy available.  That is why, of course, politicians go to such extraordinary lengths and employ world-class sophistry to make you think they are not responsible.  Anytime a congressman pretends to be outraged by something a federal bureaucrat does, he is, in fact, engaging in one big, massive con job.  No federal employee can act at all except to enforce laws passed by Congress and to employ procedures authorized by Congress, either explicitly or implicitly.

Partisans on both sides like to blame presidents for deficits, but all deficits are congressional deficits.  The president may, by custom, recommend a budget, but it carries no legal weight.  Only Congress is authorized by the Constitution to authorize and appropriate and to levy taxes.  That is what the federal budget consists of: expenditures authorized, funds appropriated, and taxes levied.

Both Democrats and Republicans mislead the public.  For 40 years, Democrats had majorities and could have, at any time, balanced the budget if they had chosen to do so.  Republicans now have majorities and could, if they choose, pass a balanced budget this year.  Every president, Democrat or Republican, could have vetoed appropriations bills that did not make up a balanced budget.  Every president could have recommended a balanced budget.  None has done either.

We have annual deficits and a huge federal debt because that is what majorities in Congress and presidents in the White House wanted.  We have troops in various Third World rat holes because Congress and the president want them there.

Do not be conned.  Do not let them escape responsibility.  We simply have to sort through 260 million people until we find 545 who will act responsibly.

Now, we'll have some poetry . . . which might be humorous if it weren't so true.  I'm not sure whom we have to thank for this remarkable little ditty, but I can't help but wonder if whoever wrote it did so before or after George Harrison, the Beatles, and Revolver.

Tax his land.
Tax his bed.
Tax the table
at which he's fed.

Tax his tractor.
Tax his mule.
Teach him taxes
are the rule.

Tax his work.
Tax his pay.
He works for
peanuts anyway!

Tax his cow.
Tax his goat.
Tax his pants.
Tax his coat.

Tax his ties.
Tax his shirt.
Tax his work.
Tax his dirt.

Tax his tobacco.
Tax his drink.
Tax him if he
tries to think.

Tax his cigars.
Tax his beers.
If he cries
tax his tears.

Tax his car.
Tax his gas.
Then find more ways
to tax his ass.

Tax all he has
then let him know
that you won't be done
'til he has no dough.

When he screams and hollers,
tax him some more.
Tax him 'til
he's good and sore.

Then tax his coffin,
and tax his grave.
Tax the sod
in which he's laid.

Put these words
upon his tomb:
"Taxes drove me
to my doom."

When he's gone,
do not relax.
It's time to apply
the inheritance tax.