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Arguments Against The 16th Amendment

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The Constitution is a document that ensures the fundamental democratic values of people residing in the United States. One extremely important amendment to this document is the 16th Amendment. As directly stated in this amendment, “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.”(1) According to this amendment, the federal government can collect increments of Americans’ incomes as tax. This tax provides the government with enough currency to pay for the army, fund public services, and support jobs. The reason for the ratification of this amendment dates back to the Civil War, because a 3% flat tax was imposed in order to pay for damage …show more content…

Some people like income tax, and others do not have an opinion on it, they just view it as a lawful obligation. However, the majority of Americans dislike income taxes and are not fond of the IRS. According to a study made by Pew Research Center, this is completely true. Only 45% of Americans favor the Internal Revenue Service,(6) showing that the remaining 55% do not like the idea of paying taxes(6). 53% of Americans claim that they are fairly taxed, and the rest of Americans think that the tax rates are unfair.(6) While some Americans are complaining about the unfairness of their tax bracket, 64% are also claiming that large corporations are not paying enough income tax. (6) Also, 61% think about wealthy individuals in the same way.(6) Surprisingly, there are even a number of people (6%) that view evading taxes as an ethical act,(6) even though it is illegal. From this study, one can conclude that taxes are disliked, are mostly viewed as fair. This information shows that there are ignorant people that do not understand the importance of collecting income

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16th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution (1913-1919): The 16th amendment was made as a law saying that the government can tax Americans in order to build things that people use such as streets, and schools. They made it that whatever you make as income you must pay a certain percent of what you make to the government as taxes. 17th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution (1913-1919): The 17th amendment of the constitution was used to form the senate with only two senators per state, for six years, and one vote per senator.

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1034 Words | 5 Pages

The following year, this tax was deemed unconstitutional due to the fact that the tax was direct, not at all connected to the population of each state. The 16th amendment was the result of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to declare the flat rate Federal income tax unconstitutional. Between 1909 and 1913, government earnings came from tariffs, which were placed on imported products. “The burden of these taxes fell heavily on working Americans, who spent a much higher percentage of their income on goods than rich people did” (“The Income Tax Amendment: Most Thought It Was a Great Idea in 1913” 1).

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290 Words | 2 Pages

Nevertheless, when the war was over, the government repealed the inheritance taxes. The Income Tax Act of 1894 was all about estate taxes as well. Gift taxes and inheritance taxes as part of income were subject to tax, a decision made by the legislation. This decision was significant and had a huge role in the Sixteenth

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521 Words | 3 Pages

”(6) The 16th Amendment stated that “Congress shall have the power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever sources derived, without apportionment among the several states and without regard to any census or enumeration.” (7) As a result of the 16th Amendment in 1913, because of exemptions and deductions, no more than 1 percent of the population paid income taxes. Tax rates started out at 1% and rose to 6% on income over $500,000. (8) With the 16th Amendment being passed through the necessary steps before becoming a constitution law, the federal government was allowed to enforce taxes on its citizens and people making money.

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558 Words | 3 Pages

While I agree with and support the value of equal opportunity, ultimately I believe the cycle of the rich becoming richer and the poor becoming poorer will not end unless the wealthy are fair about paying their taxes without loopholes. As it stands today, the American income tax policy is progressive; there are six marginal tax brackets ranging from 10% (lowest income) to 39.6% (highest income).

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508 Words | 3 Pages

America being able to collect income tax from citizens played a big part during the Vietnam war in 1968. It played a big part because we needed money to provide food and materials for the soldiers during that time of war. The only difference between then and now is that we are not at war so why is the government still taxing us? Income tax may run this country, but it is also destroying it.

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1110 Words | 5 Pages

This act significantly raised income taxes to generate revenue to fund the war. The “individual income tax cut alone amounted to about $10 billion at 1964 levels” (Pechnam). During 1964, their taxes totaled around ten billion dollars, currently, it would be around a hundred billion dollars, ten times the amount. The federal government also increased other taxes, such as gasoline, cigarettes, and alcohol to cover the cost of the war. In addition, “Johnson [held] meetings with Congressional

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269 Words | 2 Pages

They Did It ! Recently a decision was made that will change America forever. On August 18th Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the 19th amendment, therefore granting women the right to vote in all states. This decision with certainly be met with both support and opposition from many.

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531 Words | 3 Pages

Some people with be mad about getting taxed more and some people wouldn’t mind getting taxed more as long as it is doing something like helping someone that needs help or saving their lives. “About 800 000 people commit suicide every year… Mental disorders and harmful use of alcohol contribute to many suicides around the world. ”(www.who.int) The people I think that won’t like getting taxed the most are people like Lennie and George who are struggling with money as is

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tax code argue that the wealthy must pay their fair share in taxes. The design of the Progressive taxes system was to make sure everyone pay taxes depending on their earnings. Money received from taxes coming from the rich helps spur money based growth and government. Many argue that the wealthy do not pay their fair share when it comes to taxes. Some believe the U.S. is shorting its citizens of the benefits that could be gained from paying taxes.

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674 Words | 3 Pages

The war with Great Britain was meant to end these taxations. Great Britain was trying to make us believe that we were paying for the debts, but really, they were taking our money and spending it while we were just getting poor. "We contended with Great Britain—some said for a three-penny duty on tea, but it was not that. It was because they claimed a right to tax us and bind us in all cases whatever. "We started a war with Great Britain because we wanted to end this taxation, and now that we are a lone country, the Constitution will tax us

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1766 Words | 8 Pages

Should America implement a flat tax? According to Steve Forbes “For many years, people have said, ‘Make the rich pay more,’ and many politicians have said, ‘The rich people need to pay their fair share,’” (Forbes) but what do we think is really fair?

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968 Words | 4 Pages

One of the arguments used is that we could regulate and tax the 1% income because that would be “fair” but these numbers show how harmful that way of thinking is. 18% of taxes for the “bottom” of the bracket which is around 20% of the U.S population.

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1020 Words | 5 Pages

These statistics make the situation seem as if a large portion of Americans “ride for free” and do not need to pay their fair share towards the government. In reality, the previously stated data includes people who should not be paying taxes to begin with as a result of their “age or economic circumstances” (Greenstone and Looney). The only circumstance in which someone does not need to file an income tax return is if he or she is dependent on another taxpayer or if his or her income does not exceed a certain amount. If a worker’s income fails to meet the minimum taxable income requirement, he or she still “pay[s] taxes on income via the payroll tax” (McMaken). Even senior citizens who receive Social Security benefits must pay income tax unless the benefits are their only form of income.

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752 Words | 4 Pages

Do you ever think of why should or shouldn’t the rich people pay more tax than others? Nowadays, people are arguing about the fairness of paying more tax. Statistics have proven that the rich have paid the majority of U.S. income taxes. A person making $100,000 will pay a higher percentage of his income in taxes than a person making $20,000 for instance. According to the Congressional Budget Office, “The 10% of households with the highest incomes pay more than half of all federal taxes.

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