No-brainer for Massachusetts:
Barbarous Relic 
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No-brainer for Massachusetts:
Barbarous Relic
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By George
Articles
Demagogue's Survival
Guide
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End the Income Tax By George F. Smith Our two-party system long ago dissolved into the sameness of Have loot, will spend. The cause is obvious -- since early last century government at federal and state levels decided it, not us, owned our income. Politicians told the people the income tax would be an instrument of social justice, a way of making the rich pay for the sin of being rich. The income tax has been extremely effective in filling governments coffers. Somehow, politicians have managed to find quite a few more rich to soak than they originally counted. Candidates for both major parties conduct their campaigns on the assumption that the income tax is an immutable law of government. Thus, we can distinguish Massachusetts gubernatorial candidates Romney and O'Brien by their sex or hair style, not their position on taxes. This is how our political system has evolved: Two major parties, one greedy hand. That hand's reaching deep into your pocket whether you vote Republican or Democrat. But this could change. On November 5th, you, Massachusetts voters, will have a real choice about how you want government to operate. Question 1 on your ballot will ask if you want to end the state income tax. Clear your eyes, take a deep breath, and read it again: END the income tax. Not raise it, not lower it, but kill the contemptible thing once and for all. The next time someone uses the phrase "no-brainer," think of this ballot question. Would you like to keep an additional $3,000 of your income each year? Would you like the state economy to be more attractive to business? Would you like to see more jobs created? Would you like to put a major dent in government waste and corruption? Do you want to help put an end to the state monopoly on education? Voting "Yes" will do that. You might be thinking, "Well, Romney and O'Brien say if we don't have the income tax, the schools will close and old people will die. Only a monster would want something like that." If it weren't for reality, they would be right. For over a hundred years Massachusetts had no income tax. No other state had one either, and neither did the federal government. The quality of education before the income tax was far superior to today's schooling. See for yourself--try this eighth-grade exam given in 1895 in Salina, Kansas before any government imposed an income tax. As for the desirability of having the state educate our children, consider these remarks from Chapter Three of Sheldon Richman's book, Separating School & State: How to Liberate American Families. Richman quotes William H. Seawell, professor of education at the University of Virginia in 1981, on government's role in educating our children: "'Public schools [Seawell said] promote civic rather than individual pursuits'" Why the emphasis on civics? Seawell provides a clear answer: "'Each child belongs to the state.'" Did anyone take issue with his claim? "There was no outcry from the public," Richman notes. [1] The state doesn't own your kids any more than it owns your income. But it's up to you to stop it. Before the income tax, people accepted responsibility for their lives. Most didn't know any other way to live and understood that acquiring knowledge of the real world was necessary to prosper. Teachers were motivated as well as their students. In today's America, everyone's gone entitlement-crazy because government has pooled our income and put it up for grabs. Learning has become a matter of learning to play politics. Seven other states today have no income tax. Kids attend public schools in those states with the usual results. Regarding the elderly, as a group, they are the most prosperous people in our society. If they feared states without an income tax they wouldn't flock to the sunshine state in such droves. It's no accident that Nevada, Florida, and Texas lead the nation as entrepreneurial hot spots [2] and have no state income tax. [3]. If we don't end the income tax now, the day will soon arrive when there won't be an income tax to end. The government will simply take the next logical step and confiscate every cent you and I earn and pay us an allowance based on how cooperative we are, or how needy, or who we know.
You just have to vote "Yes" on question 1. Libertarian candidate for governor Carla Howell and her supporters have done all the work to get the question on the ballot. Vote "Yes" on question 1 and vote for Carla Howell for governor and Michael Cloud for U.S. Senate. They are the candidates who have put choice on your ballot, so that you'll have an opportunity to keep what is rightfully yours.
References 1. Separating School & State, Chapter 3, Sheldon Richman, http://www.sntp.net/education/school_state_3.htm 2. Best and Worst States for Business, http://www.bcentral.com/articles/harper/141.asp?cobrand=msn&LID=3800 3. States with no income tax, http://www.govspot.com/know/incometax.htm Next in State
Treachery
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Other Interesting Sites
Ron Paul's Classics of Libertarian Thought Greenspan's 1966 "Gold and Economic Freedom"
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