Although I am a Ron Paul fan, I have found the level of misinformation concerning Huckabee’s tax plan to be atrocious. I wrote this paper for an English assignment in tenth grade. If a tenth grader can understand it, so could a news reporter. I thought I would spread the truth about the Fairtax rather that let the MSM get away with its gross misrepresentation of it.

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We all know congress is filled with change-fearing ultra-conservatives and socialist liberals. Income tax was introduced to America by the first Republican President, Abraham Lincoln, to increase funding for the civil war. Our current taxation system was put in place by Theodore Roosevelt in 1913. Although Teddy may not have had the best of minds in 1913 to come up with a better system, it is unacceptable for our government to not have reformed or even replaced this taxation system with a better system in all these 93 years since it was put into place.^[1]

The taxation system in effect at this moment has been broken since it was first put in place: It has too many loopholes and too many complications. The average single American makes around $36,995, according to a 1999 study^[2], putting them in the 25% income tax bracket^[3], meaning he pays 25% of his annual income to the government, a staggering $5,913.75 with the base tax figured in correctly.

The tax system we have right now borders socialism. The income tax brackets currently range from 10%-35%^[3] based on “how rich you are”. Socialism was a method of leveling out incomes to make sure that everyone makes the same amount of money. Karl Marx, in his Communist Manifesto, wrote a list of ten goals a state must achieve in order to become an official Communist nation. Number two is “A Heavy Progressive or Graduated Income Tax”, and number three is “the Abolition of all rights to Inheritance” (The Estate/Gift Tax)^[4]. Having a progressive tax system (which is in place in the United States) is socialism. With it the percentage of income you pay rises with the amount of income you make, lessening the tax burden the poor would endure and disproportionately shifting it upon the rich’s shoulders. As you can see there are many problems with this.

A great number of the members of the top tax brackets hire consultants to help with the complicated ways of tax deductibles. Others lessen it illegally. As you can see there are many ways to do this. Some have their incomes paid to offshore accounts in foreign countries, totally avoiding income tax. Others have their paychecks cut into different portions and sent to different banks. This would make their income appear less and therefore lessen the percentage of their income they pay. Others still avoid tax by living off of odd jobs that are considered “favors” such as babysitting and other services the government is not aware of.

As you should now realize the “income” tax system can only collect tax off of people who make a legal income, official, documented citizens with official, documented occupations. People who make a living off of the black market don’t have there income on record with the government and therefore make a gross income and can spend it all. They do not pay any taxes except the sales tax their state may levy for its own source of income. The Income Tax system in place now requires the IRS to be ran at an almost obscene size for a revenue collector. The current tax system is so complicated when it comes to exemptions that some 12,000 employees are required to simply answer telephones for confused tax payers during filing season. The current tax code is so intricate that 136,000 employees are required for merely administering the code. Each year, the government spends $13,700,000,000, yes, that’s thirteen billion seven hundred million dollars. on the IRS and other government agencies regulating the tax system. That’s money well substituted into the countless other branches our tax money goes to^[5].

Another extremely prominent problem with our current tax system is the concept of double taxation. Many people believe corporations should be taxed more heavily to lessen the taxes on individuals. This is the stupidest move one could make in their life. Businesses simply add that tax to the product’s price, therefore effectively allowing the governemt to “double-tax” you: once when you receive your paycheck, and second when you spend what little net amound you were allowed to keep. What’s really frightening is the history of this little double-taxation concept. To look at the highest tax bracket through history side by side with the corporate taxes of the day it shows that the lower the income tax the higher the corporate tax and the higher the income tax the lower the corporate tax. This may sound like gibberish but look at it this way: In the 1940’s the highest tax bracket was around 80%, the corporate tax, for the sake of math, was about 10%. That means that after you recieve your money and after you spend it the government has effectively taken 90% of your income. Now in 2006 the highest tax bracket is about 35% and the corporate tax, around 40%. Granted the total taxation has gone down about 15% (attributed to the great Ronald Reagan and his massive tax cuts), but to look at it from 90% of your income to 75% of your income taxed over the period of 60 years is a lot less of a reduction than the 80% to 35% the government would want you to believe. Therefore you can effectively say the government could literally tax you the same and you think you were being taxed less. Today about 20% of a product’s price is attributed to corporate taxes.^[4][6]

Now there is an answer to all of these problems we face with our tax system: a National Retail Sales Tax. A retail sales tax is levied by most states already, and is quite easily ran: the businesses simply add the tax onto the price. If a national sales tax was proposed the loopholes are eliminated, the IRS is completely dissassembled and the tax burden is spread out upon every person that spends money in the United States, be it a tourist buying a souvenir on his vacation, or an illegal alien purchasing personal goods, or even a drug dealer buying his new Mercedes Benz. This would dramatically reduce the tax burden most people suffer by spreading it out upon all of the people spending money in the United States. The sales tax would of course replace personal, estate, gift, capital gains, alternative minimum, Social Security, Medicare, self-employment, and corporate taxes.^[4]
Many supporters of a national sales tax believe that food and medical supplies should be exempt. This is both foolish and corrupt. Many respected economists have done studies in which they show that the rich spend much more on unprepared food, clothing, medical supplies, and housing than do the poor. This would actually lead to a disproportionate advantage for the rich.^[7]

There have been many bills introduced in congress that support a tax replacement such as the national sales tax proposes. Many of those fail. In my research I have found a lobbyist group that has two bills proposed, and a number of Representatives and Senators that support them. The group is called FairTax Volunteer. The group has calculated a 23% National Sales Tax Rate would be sufficient to produce the same amount of revenue the government currently makes, and could possibly increase it with the decrease in the size and spending of IRS. And, when subtracting the 20% of a product’s price attributed to corporate taxes, and then adding the 23% of the sales tax, you are actually feeling only a 3% price increase, which is phenomonally low coupled with the complete removal of all taxes taken out of your paycheck. You have more money left over.^[4][7]

A national sales tax could potentially bring this country out of deficit while decreasing the amount of money the average American pays in taxes. This would lead to a more prosperous government, people, and industry all at the same time.

Sources Cited

^{[1] Income Tax In the United States Wikipedia.com Article
[2] “How We Spend Our Money” SeaCoastOnline.com Article
[3] Tax Brackets Article SaveWealth.com
[4] The FairTax Book by Neal Boortz and Congressman John Linder}
[5] Interesting Tax Facts Article ScrapTheCode.com
[6] Dividend Tax Wikipedia.com Article
[7] www.FairTaxVolunteer.org

Note to reader - This paper was written by Michael Sendker in Tenth Grade.

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    The debate last night was a little disappointing to me, as with a great deal of other viewers. The questions asked were mainly soft and had little to do with true American concerns, and once again, Rudy McRomney got the most talking time, and interestingly enough, even Huckabee got more time than Ron Paul, whose fundraising isn’t what Ron Paul’s is.

The truly interesting thing I wanted to comment on however is in the TV show 24, of which I started watching the sixth season tonight.  I just noticed randomly that whenever the show is in CTU, the White House a street corner or home the TV is playing a fake Fox broadcast for the show. Whenever it is showing a terrorist house/building it is playing a broadcast from a fictional news organization called “CNS”. The really interesting thing is that the CNS logo bears a striking resemblance to the CNN logo. I actually thought it was a CNN logo at first. I think Fox is trying to subliminally put into the viewer mind that “CNN is the voice of the terrorists” and “FNN is the voice of America and the ‘good guys’”. I’m only two episodes in, and since Al-Assad has come to the light side of the show’s spectrum I’ll be interested to see if he’ll still be watching CNS or if hes going to start watching FNN, symbolizing his true convert to the good side.

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Even more scary than the possibility of Bush’s coup, at least in my opinion, is something I uncovered while reading The Creature From Jekyll Island today. I’ve always known a great deal about the United States entry into WWI and thought there wasn’t anything really shocking to it. Well, as it turns out, I was wrong.

I had known since AP Euro that the Lusitania was carrying ammunition and fitted for armaments, a fact which I despised the British for. I even knew of the orders the British made to fire upon German U-Boats instead of allowing a German Search Party to determine whether or not it was an enemy ship, forcing the Germans to pick back up Unrestricted Submarine Warfare and fire upon all ships without warning. I didn’t know, however, just how big of a set up the sinking of the Lusitania really was.

Because the British knew that unless the US could be brought into war, the Allies may lose, they had to figure out a reason to convince the American Public that America should enter the war. The way the British forced the Germans to pick back up Unrestricted Submarine Warfare increased the chances of an American merchant vessel being torpedoed.

The Lusitania was was fitted in May of 1913 with extra armor and revolving gun rings, so she could be used as a warship if needed. She was also used as a luxury liner. If the Germans saw the Lusitania they would certainly fire upon her.

It has also been determined that the Lusitania was carrying a great deal of munitions and war materials at the time of her sinking. The Germans knew all of this well before the Lusitania set sail and knew of the possible implications if she were sunk. The German embassy in Washington filed a formal complaint to the US government claiming that the ship was clearly in violation of international neutrality treaties. The response denied any knowledge of the cargo. The German embassy made a last ditch effort to prevent the impending catastrophe by placing ads in fifty East Coast newspapers warning Americans not to board the Lusitania. We’ve all seen the ad. Here’s a link in case you never took history class. What I’ve never heard until now was that the ad only made it into one news paper, the Des Moines Register on the requested date, because of threats of libel by the State Department. The fact that our government would deliberately keep the American people blind to the dangers of such a ship for ulterior motives scares the shit out of me. It makes me wonder just what else our government has done. The 9/11 truth movement will have a field day once they get their hands on this information.

Here’s a quote from Colin Simpson, author of “The Lusitania”, page 97:

“George Viereck [who was the editor of a German-owned newspaper at that time and who had placed the ads on behalf of the embassy] spent April 26 asking the State Department why his advertisement had not been published. Eventually he managed to obtain an interview with [Secretary of State, William Jennings] Bryan and pointed out to him that on all but one of her wartime voyages the Lusitania had carried munitions. He produced copies of her supplementary manifests, which were open to public inspection at the collector’s office. More important, he informed Bryan, no fewer than six million rounds of ammunitino were due to be shipped on the Lusitania the following Friday and could be seen at that moment being loaded on pier 54. Bryan picked up the telephone and cleared the publication of the advertisement. He promised Viereck that he would endeavor the President publicly to warn Americans not to travel. No such warning was issued by the President, but there can be no doubt that President Wilson was told of the character of the cargo destined for the Lusitania. He did nothin, but was to concede on the day he was told of her sinking that his foreknowledge had given him many sleepless hours.”

The Lusitania was ordered to rendezvous with a British destroyer, the Juno, just off the coast of Ireland for extra protection. When the Lusitania reached the point the destroyer was not there. The Juno had actually been called out of the area at the last minute. The Lusitania was forced to head straight into an area where German U-Boats were known to be operating without any protection, and travelling at 75% of her potential speed. She was ordered to cut back on the amount of coal she used in order to cut costs.

We all know what happened from there. The Lusitania was sunk on May 17, 1915 forever changing American public sentiment of the war.

I just read all this information and felt compelled to share it. I am truly getting more and more worried every day of what this government is capable and willing to do.

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Military Coup’s are unfamiliar territory in the United States, but with President Bush in office one may be just around the corner. In May of 2007 President Bush signed into law a presidential directive that gives him the power to declare a state of emergency in the United States and establish martial law without the consent of Congress. Under section 2E we get this:

“(e) “Enduring Constitutional Government,” or “ECG,” means a cooperative effort among the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the Federal Government, coordinated by the President, as a matter of comity with respect to the legislative and judicial branches and with proper respect for the constitutional separation of powers among the branches, to preserve the constitutional framework under which the Nation is governed and the capability of all three branches of government to execute constitutional responsibilities and provide for orderly succession, appropriate transition of leadership, and interoperability and support of the National Essential Functions during a catastrophic emergency;”

The statement I highlighted gives the power to the President to direct the entire nation, suspend elections, habeas corpus, declare martial law and surveil the American people. Comity is defined by the American Heritage Dictionary as:

1. An atmosphere of social harmony.
2. See comity of nations.
3. The principle by which the courts of one jurisdiction may accede or give effect to the laws or decisions of another.

Basically it means that each branch will be ceding powers to other branches in order to keep continuity in the Constitutional Government. This matter of comity is coordinated by the president however, and therefore it’s pretty safe to assume that the Executive Branch will be doing the least amount of power-ceding. The president can basically choose to take any power he wishes, and all of this can be done without the consultation of the American People or Congress for that matter.

The definition for a situation calling for NSPD-51 to be enacted is almost as vague as it could get. Under 2B:

” (b) “Catastrophic Emergency” means any incident, regardless of location, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the U.S. population, infrastructure, environment, economy, or government functions;”
The “regardless of location” is probably the most frightening part of this clause. Seeing as such relative terms as “severely” and extraordinary” the President can declare an emergency for almost anything. Say in spring 2008 we declare war on Iran. Iran launches a counterattack which takes a few hundred American Lives. Under NSPD-51 Section 2b that could be categorized as a “Catastrophic Emergency”. Even a localized wildfire or hurricane could be classified as a national emergency. And considering no one but the President has the right to determine said emergency, we may be living under a dictator in the next year.

To truly consider the potential this directive has means one has to prepare for a revolution in the next year. Since I’ve learned of NSPD-51 I’ve been saving money for a gun. I won’t take the chance of catching myself unarmed in a coup d’etat.

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After watching that I shook my head like a cartoon. He is predicting exactly what happened in Iraq. It’s unbelievable. It’s almost stand-alone proof that Cheney and Bush went in for corporate profit. Saddam had WMD’s in ‘94 and we knew about it. Maybe Cheney used to be a good guy.

Sorry it took so long for an update. It slipped my mind. This one isn’t supposed to be long, I’ll update again soon.

Edit: Strange, the original copy went down, but thats why I love youtube. I replaced it.

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So, we have countless reasons to be upset with our current administration, it has caused many problems, some small, some large. But for my first post I would like to propose a counter-argument.

Yes, there are problems to be solved and adjustments to be made; however, let’s take a moment to thank our founding fathers we have the right to switch leaders and agendas. I notice that most fellow students at my school do not take the time to actually think about why we pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, or even say it for that matter. This is because we can’t know what we don’t have, so we might never fully appreciate our freedoms. I agree we are in an irrational war. I agree we cannot afford Social Security if it continues the way it has been. However, we have checks and balances; and as slanted as it may seem at times, we have representation of the People. For this reason, we will never (or at least any time soon) see a dictatorship or equivalent abuse of power in the upper echelon of the Executive Branch.

Right now, the Russians don’t have it as easy. Putin is doing everything within his power to create a dictatorship for himself; slanting presidential polls and all kinds of media. Due to their history, Russia does not have as strong check-and-balance systems in place to limit what a man like Putin can do.

So just take a moment now to think what would happen if by some chance we had a dictator ruling the U.S.- this website would have been closed down and the owners questioned. Next time you hear the pledge, say it. When you hear the anthem, take your hat off. And when you criticize current foreign or domestic policy, make sure you differentiate it from the principles of the United States of America; as the ideals of the nation are not always in accordance with the ideals of the administration.

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I still feel very strongly that Fox News and the rest of the MSM hosted debates need to force equal time for every candidate. The four so-called “Top Tier” candidates are still getting way more time and questions than any of the other candidates. It’s not even questionable that this is forcing the American people to vote for who the media labels “top-tier”.

The really interesting thing I wanted to comment on though was the after-debate HANNITY and COLMES show. COLMES seemed very fond of Paul’s position, almost like he’s rebelling against his Fox news handlers, I feel bad for whatever chastisement he’ll be getting tonight. He quoted Paul’s position in one of the points he was making. But even more interestingly, HANNITY seemed very kind to Paul. Last time he was very aggressive and almost insultingly attacked Ron Paul. He drew heavy criticism after that debate, and as sure as schnitzel, he decided to be more kind and civil when talking with Paul in this interview.

I’m looking forward to seeing the boatload of articles coming out tomorrow about how Ron Paul didn’t get enough time and how the questions were slanted, some of sound base, some just ridiculous rants. Thats it for now though.

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I usually scoff at claims that we’re living at a police state. I believe we are living in the definition of a police-state, but not the traditional Nazi Germany sense. More and more I’m doubting that. Almost every other day I get a story in my google reader feed about someone being arrested for another dumb reason. The one I saw today blew my mind. A guy actually got arrested for standing on the sidewalk.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/18/nyregion/18movealong.html?_r=1

That sort of story is straight out of Nazi Germany. There was a law the British Government passed after the Boston Tea Party making it illegal for more than two people to talk in public. This is so parallel it is not even funny. This isn’t the only ridiculous article I’m finding. Now that I search my Google Reader inbox I’m finding so many I don’t have enough room for tabs.

This one is a little more questionable. The kid had the Anarchist Cookbook, but nonetheless, it is not illegal to possess any information, unless it’s classified intelligence. The Anarchist Cookbook is filled with different types of homemade explosives. Stuff that could be found with a Google search or on Wikipedia. I understand their reasoning, but I still find it to be a violation of the kids rights.

Here is one where a protestor/attorney gets arrested for putting up a Political Poster. It’s scaring the hell out of me just as I’m reading.

This one may get a bit controversial in most people’s eyes, but what needs to be pointed out is that no court or official has ever showed a law or resolution that forces the American people to obey IRS code. Technically, we don’t have to pay income tax, its simply an unauthorized donation.

Here is one where a guy gets pulled over for not wearing a seat belt, and then gets thrown in the back of a squad car for “coughing in the officer’s face”. According to the suspect he coughed at the cop’s belt, but the officer says otherwise. It’s a hearsay case, but it sounds like the cop is on a power trip.

This one is a little less defensable from the point of people getting arrested for meaningless charges, but it’s ridiculous nonetheless. What right does the government have to say we can’t smoke marijuana? It doesn’t adversely affect our health, it’s not causing any deaths, it’s less harmful than alcohol or cigarettes. So why should people be getting arrested for it? Our Declaration of Independence states that the only purpose of government is to protect the individual’s life, liberty, and property. It’s infringing upon their liberty with a falsely stated purpose of protecting our life. Do some research congress. Marijuana is harmless.

This one is making me scream. The couple attempted to use the liberty dollars to purchase some food. Liberty dollars are currency backed by a private organization. Considering the currency crisis we face right now I can’t blame the couple for switching. It may be a little impractical, but it’s for safety, and makes a statement. The police state that it is not legal tender and not backed by the United States Government. THE DOLLAR ISN’T EVEN BACKED BY THE GOVERNMENT! Where the hell do these people get their facts? It’s none of the governments business what form of currency two party’s use to barter. That’s why it was legal in the 1800’s for private wildcat banks to appear. If the company they were purchasing with didn’t want the liberty dollars, they just void the contract and move on. The couple committed no crime.

Here is a case that is unbelievably creepy in it’s Police-Stateness. An old woman was confronted by a police officer at her house about her lawn. She neglected to identify herself, which she has a legal right to refuse to do, and the officer arrested her! Read the article and allow your jaw to drop.

Now it’s going to be illegal to have sex with a woman if she’s had to much to drink.

This is actually something I’ve been interested in for a while now. Our crusade against pedophilia and sexual assault has really taken a toll on men. I found an article a while ago about the effects it’s having on men, but I lost that one. Instead you’ll have to put up with this ridiculous article about a man who is arrested for raping an 8 year old girl on simply hearsay. He was innocent and then sued the city for 10 million dollars. In my opinion the guy deserves the money.

Here’s one where a guy got arrested in a prostitution scandal. He was with his wife and when the undercover cop posing as a prostitute leaned in the window and asked if they wanted sex they both laughed realizing the woman didn’t need help, as they had assumed. Cops were around their car in seconds. What the hell?

This is something that has been bugging me for a while. I remember hearing a while back about someone who wasn’t allowed in the Capitol Building with a political tee shirt. I found that to be extremely strange considering the Capitol Building is the Capitol of American Politics. It just made no sense to me. This one is about a guy who got arrested after aguing with cops about getting into the Patreus hearing. He was wearing a button that said “I Love the People of Iraq”. Apparently that’s illegal. It’s getting to the point that America is more like Maoist China. You don’t know what the law is until you violate it.

Here is one where a kid at a fast food restaurant is facing criminal charges for over-salting a police officer’s burger. The kid accidentally spilled a little salt. His manager told him to go ahead and serve it. If the cop felt that badly about it, complain and get a new one! Don’t abuse your powers!

Here is a kid getting arrested for throwing a cheeto bag in his dad’s face. It’s a friggin’ cheeto bag. How bad is his dad actually hurt?

Apparently now you can’t even sleep in your car when your drunk. I guess they would prefer him to be sleeping on a bench and then get in trouble for public drunkenness. This one is also scaring the crap out of me. DUI’s should be reserved for actually driving under the influence, not for being in a position to drive. What’s next? A DUI for drinking with your keys in your pocket?

This one is also creeping me out a bit. This guy got arrested for refusing to identify himself. When you go to a store and after you purchase your products and leave sometimes they check our bag. They have no right do this, but we allow them anyway. Well, this guy refused it. He said “No” and walked out. The employee followed him out and then a cop asked for him to show his ID. The guy wasn’t driving and the cop expected him to identify himself. He doesn’t have to, so he didn’t. He got arrested. It’s like knowing your rights nowadays doesn’t count for anything, because the police don’t even know your rights.

Here’s a guy that got arrested on charges of obstructing a sidewalk. The guy was holding an impeach Bush/Cheney sign on a five foot wide sidewalk. Another oppressive power hungry cop. This stuff is creeping me out. I’ve still got like ten more tabs with stories open.

Alright, well anyway, I closed the tabs. I’m not going to bother. You get the message. It’s confusing to me. The way I understand the way our goverment is supposed to operate is that we don’t have to worry about the law in our daily lives. We should never have to come in contact with a police officer except when we’re a victim or there’s some kind of dispute or something serious. Not small stuff. There are too many laws and statutes on the books. My definition of a Police State encompasses the United States.

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Prescott Bush Planned Fascist Coup

Ron Paul Unelectable? So Was Reagan.

The Presidential Primary Scam

“We got more information out of a game of chess than they ever do with torture” - WWII analyts

Activists Face Six Months in Prison for Political Posters - Nixon’s Plumbers Ring a Bell?

Best Ron Paul Vid Ever

Ann Coulter is a Nubjob, and a bit Racist, but hey, what’s new?

Benjamin Franklin True Patriot Act

Something to keep in mind about Immigration

Most of this stuff is jacked straight from digg, but if you don’t read digg, click away.

And yes, this is where I pick writing back up. I won’t write essays like my previous posts, merely comment on news stories and post them. It’s easier that way, and I’ll have a lot more to write.

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