Constitutional Taxation

Should five percent appear too small
Be thankful I don't take it all
--The Beatles

The Constitution gave Congress power to tax:

"The Congress shall of Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States." (A1 S8 C1)

It is evident from the above that this original taxing power was not unlimited. Taxes could only be applied toward three areas: debt service, common defense, and general welfare. Moreover, there is a principle of uniformity that holds here. Common defense and general welfare implies that tax proceeds could not be distributed using a progressive scale toward particular groups. The uniformity principle is also evident in the specification that tariffs and excise taxes 'shall be uniform' from state to state.

Further down in Article 1, the framers imposed further limits on Congress's power to directly tax individuals. This is undoubtedly due to the central role of taxes in motivating the Revolution with England, and to the framers' understanding of property rights in the framework of natural law:

"No Capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the Census or enumeration herein before directed to be taken." (A1 S9 C4)

Once again the principle of uniformity applies. The only type of tax that could levied on individuals directly was a head tax that did not discriminate on any basis. Instead, all would be taxed by the same amount.

The framers did not consider an income tax of any kind. There is little doubt as to why. An income tax violates principles of natural law--that people should be secure in their person and possessions, and that income taxes reflect a violent intervention in the pursuit of individual interests. The framers certainly knew that the probability of the Constitution being ratified would be near zero if it included an income tax provision.

Nearly 150 years later, of course, politicians were able to amend A1 S9 C4 to permit the taxing of income at the discretion of the federal government.

The income tax amendment is so inconsistent with the rest of the Constitution that it sticks out to anyone who understands the Constitution's grounding in natural law. Indeed, the amendment is similar to another egregious constitutional error - the one that legalized people as the property of others.

Both enslave some people for the benefit of others.