Taxed To Death:

We Are Paying Taxes On Money We Earn, Taxes On Money We Spend, And Taxes On Things We Already Own That We Already Paid Taxes On, With Already Taxed Money

Rob Pue

In 1913, the 16th Amendment to the US Constitution authorized Congress to impose a tax on income, leading to the creation of the Bureau of Internal Revenue, which would become the Internal Revenue Service in 1953.  And two years later, April 15 became “Tax Day.”  It had previously been March 15, but in 1955, the date was extended “to allow taxpayers more time to prepare their returns, to accommodate the increasing complexity of tax laws and the growing number of people who were required to pay federal income tax.”

Taxes have always been a part of life, even going back to colonial days.  The American Revolution began due to “taxation without representation.”  England was taxing the colonists on goods we imported, but the colonists had no representation in British Parliament.  Today, American citizens are being taxed on everything, with no legitimate representation in our own Congress.  By the way, the Revolutionary War was fought over those taxes, that amounted to a whopping 3%.  Today, just the federal income tax rate alone ranges from 10% for those living in poverty to 37% for those with a higher income.

And that’s just the federal income tax.  We pay taxes on the money we earn, taxes on the money we spend, and taxes on things we own that we already paid taxes on with already-taxed money.  Only our government is irresponsible enough to be in the the business of forcibly extracting so much money from people and still come out bankrupt.
 
In addition to the federal income tax, we also pay: property tax, sales tax, state income tax, marriage license fees, public school taxes, vehicle registration taxes, business permit fees, estate taxes, dog license fees, driver’s license fees, vehicle registration fees, gasoline taxes, gift taxes, social security taxes, unemployment taxes, self-employment taxes, hotel taxes, license plate fees, Medicare taxes, utility taxes, and sports stadium taxes — to name just a few.

Basically, if you earn it, you pay income tax. If you live somewhere, you pay property tax.  If you spend it, you pay sales tax. If you save it, inflation tax. If you invest it, capital gains tax. If you start a business, license fees. If your business prospers, you pay profit tax. If you give it away, there’s a gift tax. And in some states, if you die, inheritance tax.
 
Once again: We’re paying taxes on the money we earn, taxes on the money we spend, and taxes on things we already own that we already paid taxes on, with already taxed money.  Can you wrap your head around that? And why do we put up with it?
 
There was a time when we didn’t have to ask permission from the government or pay taxes to: collect rain water, go fishing, own a property, start a business, renovate a home, build a home, drive a vehicle, get married, hunt, own a weapon, cut hair, sell a product, protest, grow your own food on your own property, set up a lemonade stand or sell food.  Today, you can do virtually nothing without being extorted by the government and obtaining their permission first.

Now recently, with the implementation of the Department of Government Efficiency, or “DOGE,” that agency has reportedly abruptly stopped the wasteful spending of $115 billion dollars so far.  They’re still rooting out obscene government waste and fraud and I can only say it’s about time.  Because America is already more than $36 trillion in debt that we can never repay.  Meanwhile, Americans pay a total of $2.6 trillion annually in federal income tax.

But in March, Congress passed yet another “Continuing Resolution” setting the “discretionary spending” budget at 1.6 trillion dollars.  This includes an increase of $7 billion in deficit spending.  As citizens, we’re required to be fiscally responsible.  We all know the government is not.  If the government was an individual, it would have such a low credit score, it wouldn’t qualify for even a “payday loan,” or “car title loan” or even an advance from a shady mafia loan shark.  They tell us our social security, Medicare and welfare systems are broke — along with FEMA, which spent all its money on illegal aliens.  But somehow, there’s always been plenty of money that appears out of thin air to cover the ever-growing deficit, and to spend on pet projects and foreign aid to 187 other countries around the world.

You can argue that we’re living, once again, under “taxation without representation” and you can argue that the 16th amendment was never properly ratified by the states all you want but try not paying your taxes and see what happens.

So, my question is, why do we pay taxes, when the federal government has been giving “free” money to every special interest group — and nearly every foreign country in the world — racking up trillions in debt, with literally nothing to back it up, and with absolutely no accountability to anyone?  The average citizen, and especially those who own a business or operate a Christian ministry, must account for every single jot and tittle of their income, and then hand over a substantial amount of that money to the government.  The IRS has thousands of agents to scrutinize every single cent we touch.  Yet the government “loses” trillions in assets every day, spends trillions that don’t even exist, and there is no audit, no accountability, no nothing.

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