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2005 Ron Paul Chapter 10
Not linked on Ron Paul’s Congressional website.
Congressional Record [.PDF]
Introduction Of The Liberty Amendment
26 January 2005
HON. RON PAUL
OF TEXAS
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
2005 Ron Paul 10:1
Mr. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to introduce the Liberty Amendment, which repeals
the 16th Amendment, thus paving the way for
real change in the way government collects
and spends the people’s hard-earned money.
The Liberty Amendment also explicitly forbids
the federal government from performing any
action not explicitly authorized by the United
States Constitution.
2005 Ron Paul 10:2
The 16th Amendment gives the federal government a direct claim on the lives of American
citizens by enabling Congress to levy a
direct income tax on individuals. Until the passage
of the 16th amendment, the Supreme
Court had consistently held that Congress had
no power to impose an income tax.
2005 Ron Paul 10:3
Income taxes are responsible for the transformation of the federal government from one
of limited powers into a vast leviathan whose
tentacles reach into almost every aspect of
American life. Thanks to the income tax, today
the federal government routinely invades our
privacy, and penalizes our every endeavor.
2005 Ron Paul 10:4
The Founding Fathers realized that “the power to tax is the power to destroy,” which
is why they did not give the federal government
the power to impose an income tax.
Needless to say, the Founders would be horrified
to know that Americans today give more
than a third of their income to the federal government.
2005 Ron Paul 10:5
Income taxes not only diminish liberty, they retard economic growth by discouraging work
and production. Our current tax system also
forces Americans to waste valuable time and
money on compliance with an ever-more complex
tax code. The increased interest in flat-
tax and national sales tax proposals, as well
as the increasing number of small businesses
that question the Internal Revenue Service’s
(IRS) “withholding” system provides further
proof that America is tired of the labyrinthine
tax code. Americans are also increasingly fed
up with an IRS that continues to ride roughshod
over their civil liberties, despite recent
“pro-taxpayer” reforms.
2005 Ron Paul 10:6
Mr. Speaker, America survived and prospered for 140 years without an income tax,
and with a federal government that generally
adhered to strictly constitutional functions, operating
with modest excise revenues. The income
tax opened the door to the era (and errors)
of Big Government. I hope my colleagues
will help close that door by cosponsoring
the Liberty Amendment.
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