What if we Ignored the 16th Amendment?
The 16th Amendment allows Congress to override apportionment and levy a direct income tax on individuals. It doesn't compel it.
Here’s a quick thought about how to get the country back on track. Stop me if I’ve put this one forward before.
The Sixteenth Amendment allows Congress to levy an income tax on individual Americans. Now, I’m not going to suggest repealing it. That would be a good idea, but it strikes me as impractical.
Instead, I’m going to note that it only allows Congress to levy a direct tax. It doesn’t compel it. We could go back to the original plan—in the Constitution—in which federal taxation would be apportioned among the states, based upon enumeration in the census.
What would this shift accomplish?
1. It would impose better discipline on census numbers. Inflate your state’s count? Cool. You get extra representation and pay extra taxes. Suppress your count? Also cool. Save on taxes, get less representation.
2. It would give the states maximum room to experiment with different tax policies.
3. It would eliminate the interstate subsidization at the heart of the SALT debate.
4. It would impose at least some discipline on Congressional spending, knowing that they would have to bring their shares back to their home state legislatures to collect.
5. The penalty for any state failing to provide its share of the federal tax burden would be to have its Congressional delegation unseated until it complied. If that turns out to be unconstitutional, all members of non-compliant delegations could be stripped of leadership and committee assignments and given only a floor vote.
Now, if we could only couple that with a repeal of the 17th Amendment, we might actually be heading into structural reform capable of securing our freedom.
Just a thought.
For more information about Bruce D. Abramson & American Restorationism, visit: www.BruceDAbramson.com
To learn more about America’s Spiritual Crisis and the new religion of Wokeism, see: American Spirit or Great Awokening? The Battle to Restore or Destroy Our Nation (Academica Press, 2024).
To learn more about how America’s elites destroyed the republic, see: The New Civil War: Exposing Elites, Fighting Utopian Leftism, and Restoring America (RealClear Publishing, 2021).
To learn more about the ideology driving today’s anti-American leftism, see: American Restoration: Winning America’s Second Civil War (Kindle, 2019).
To learn more about our work at the American Coalition for Education and Knowledge, visit us at The Coalition for America.
To learn more about how I turn the ideas I discuss here into concrete projects that serve the interests of my clients, donors, and society at large, please e-mail me at bdabramson@pm.me.
No Senators? Less politicians? Less representation? Removing a potent check on the House and visa a versa is a worrisome concept.
As per the 16th, it seems your idea may trade one set of problems with another or new ones. However, as usual you are thinking creatively and it is stimulating alternative ideas.