The Balance Of Power
Some Americans question whether it is fair to assess a different tax rate
to individual Americans based upon their income. Many wealthy and upper
middle class Americans ask,"Why should I pay a higher tax rate?" Many of
these same tax payers protest the existence of estate and inheritance taxes
which reduce their ability to pass their accumulated wealth along to their
heirs.
The answers to these questions lie in a fundamental premise, upon which
American history and government is based.
When this country was first separated from that empire which gave it birth,
the founding fathers of the nation wisely designed a system of government
that balanced opposing branches of government so that no individual branch
of government, legislative, executive, or judicial, would be able to impose
its own will upon the American people. Similarly, the authors of the
United States Constitution included a provision in that document to prevent
the establisthment of any one religion above all others. We, as a nation,
have constantly supported the idea that no group, ideological or political,
should have power to impose its will upon all others.
The second paragraph of our Declaration of Independence, begins with the words,
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal .
. .", and thus was founded a nation upon the premise that no human being
should be Lord to any other.
It is in line with these facts that we should oppose the permanent
establishment of any class system in the U.S. The graduated tax rates of
our Federal Income Tax system are one way in which we seek to inhibit the
the accumulation of economic power in the hands of any single individual,
and estate taxes help to inhibit the transfer of accumulated economic power
from one generation to another.
