Thomas letter: Tax day
Tax Day cometh. You will recall that before 1912, state legislatures appointed senators to “ride herd” over the House representatives that were elected by “the people,” ostensibly by making campaign promises. And the federal government could not tax individuals. Rather they could only send an invoice to the legislatures. So, we had a great check and balance on federal spending. The 16th and 17th amendments removed that check and balance. The 17th allowed senators to be elected by the people. The 16th allowed the federal government to tax us directly. So without that check and balance for only 105 years, you see now what we have. 78,000 pages of tax code, significant tax provisions allowing some wealthy to not pay tax at all, and, of course, the $19 trillion debt. Perhaps it’s time to repeal the 16th and 17th and try something else, no? Maybe the founders weren’t so stupid after all.
James W. Thomas, Boise
This story was originally published April 13, 2017 at 3:11 PM with the headline "Thomas letter: Tax day."