America Was Much Better Off Before The Income Tax (2013, wealthiest, money)

[Grandpa Pipes]

This story will both shock you and make you cry with frustration.......

100 Years Old And Still Killing Us: America Was Much Better Off Before The Income Tax

[andywire]

We've been paying that pesky civil war off for quite some time now...

This is what people don't realize about the government. They have a long history of taking, but they aren't one to give back.

[texdav]

Well I think we are about to start seeing what it will mean when grants etc are gone.I think mnay will be surprisede just what their skin to the game becomes in loical taxes to support what was general federal taxed based. it had to happen there is so much pork ;tho.

[ukrkoz]

grandpa, and the point is? You know, there's saying - people have governments only as bad, as they deserve. Nation signed for it, now everyone pays to the government for a large spoon and eats that s...t.
The real funny part is, where the tax money goes and who it makes richer. But it's a whole new rhetorical question.

[banjomike]

America was much better off before it started using oil for powering automobiles instead of lighting lamps.

Since a revolution never happened after the income tax was made into law, neither you nor I will ever know if our country was better off afterward or not. History says most poorer folks were in favor of it and the wealthiest among us were not. Some things never change.

[texdav]

But in todays world we would be like many who still use it only to light lamps.Even third world countries are increasing usage to get out of thrid wrold eatnig habits.

[ovcatto]

Originally Posted by andywire

This is what people don't realize about the government. They have a long history of taking, but they aren't one to give back.

So where does the government keep all of its ill-gotten gain? In offshore banks accounts in the Cayman Islands?

[bhsx1187]

We now how a huge military, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, highways, and education spending to mention a few things that we didn't have pre-income tax. Guess why this period had such huge growth rates. Monopolies and robber barons. People got fed up with being taken advantage of in their eyes (long hours, low pay, miserable conditions) so you began with the anti-trust acts and soon instituted the income tax to level income gap.

[Just_the_facts]

No, it wasn't. The average standard of living is much higher now than it was in 1913. Also, US living standards have improved much more in the period between 1913-2013 than they did between 1860-1912. In 1912 cars were a novelty and few had them. By the 1950s, most American families had at least one car. Medicine (with much of the research funded through the income tax) has made significant advancements since 1912. Electricity and indoor plumbing were not widely available in 1912, but now even many low income households have a smartphone. If people lived til their sixties in 1912 (and most didn't), they would be lucky to eke out an existence, much less retire in comfort.

The article isn't that persuasive.

[Randomstudent]

America didn't really have much of a military back then, nor did we have medicare and social security. You would need to get rid of those three things to get rid of income tax.

Also if we went back to using tariffs to collect revenue we would likely start a trade war and make consumer goods very expensive.