Taxation Without Representation

On April 15, citizens around the nation will gather in "Tea Parties" to protest profligate spending of taxpayer money, by the elected "representatives" of the people. I will be among them. Let me first state that I am not against taxes. When they are used to meet the constitutionally-intended purposes for taxation, I am willing to put up my share. I am not willing to pay for unconstitutional activities. Nor am I willing to pay your share.

Many in the "movement" of tax protesters have stated that their complaint is not against taxation without representation as was the first Tea Party in Boston Harbor. That may be the case with those individuals. It is not my situation. I am unrepresented in Congress. Millions of others who wish to protect the Constitution of this country are also feeling disenfranchised.

I am certainly not represented by those who claim to represent me. This is the way of democracy, one might say. But the fact is that the"reps" do what they believe is right (or politically expedient) without regard to the beliefs and desires of those they allegedly represent.

In Congress I have one Representative, a liberal Democrat. I also have two allegedly-Republican Senators. All three voted in favor of the "Stimulus Bill." I sent emails to all three asking that they please vote against this bill. Two responded. Each defended her (yes, all three are female) reasons for voting this monstrosity of a liability onto the backs of my grandchildren. Here is the closing paragraph from the response I got from my friendly Representative.

I am confident that this package is a necessary first step towards jump-starting our struggling economy and putting people back to work in Maine and around the country - in jobs that will rebuild our infrastructure and expand information technology to rural areas, modernize our archaic health care system, strengthen our children's education and move America towards a sustainable energy future that breaks our dependence on foreign oil. I appreciate your thoughts on the recovery package, and I hope that this letter helps explain my decision to support it.

Please note that this is merely a first step. Both legislators and governors around the nation have promised to tax anything and everything. Combine this power of taxation with the general hatred of Christianity evident among the "elite" classes and we can expect churches to be taxed to the limit - and beyond in the near future.

We'll get socialized medicine, soon. I probably won't be able to afford the gas to get to any appointment my government deigns to assign me, though.

In 1776, the year of the birth of this nation, Adam Smith published his great tome, The Wealth of Nations. He had a lot to say about taxes. He listed four basic rules for taxation:

1. "The subject of every State ought to contribute towards the support of the government, as nearly as possible, in proportion to their respective abilities; that is, in proportion to the revenue which they respectively enjoy under the protection of the State." (Perhaps Mr. Timothy Franz Geithner should be reminded of this maxim).

2. "The tax each individual is bound to pay ought to be certain, and not arbitrary. The time of payment, the manner of payment, and the quantity to be paid, ought all to be clear and plain to the contributor, and to ever other person." (How many pages are there in the IRS code?).

3. "Every tax ought to be levied at the time, or in the manner in which it is most likely to be convenient for the contributor to pay it." (Convenient for me? Not likely).

4. "Every tax ought to be so contrived as both to take out and to keep out of the pockets of the people as little as possible, over and above what it brings into the public treasury of the State." (They don't take much out of the pockets of many of our government officials).

I'll be out on April 15. As I stated, I'm not against legitimate taxes. I'm against foolish, wasteful, non-productive, and confiscatory taxation.

Buy some tea today!