[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 15 (Tuesday, January 28, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E79]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           LIBERTY AMENDMENT

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. RON PAUL

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, January 28, 2003

  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.
  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.
  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.
  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.
  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 complacence 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 questioning 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.
  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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