Arguments Against The 16th Amendment

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

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