United Liberty

No doubt you heard about Andrew Joseph Stack flying his Piper Cherokee into an office building where about 200 IRS employees worked in northwest Austin, Texas.  In addition to the intentional plane crash, he apparently set his home ablaze and possibly booby-trapped his car with a bomb.  His suicide note/manifesto was briefly posted here, before the webhosting company took the site offline “due to the sensitive nature of the events.”

You may recall a report issued by the Missouri Information Analysis Center last winter that equated support of many “extreme” views common in libertarian thought, including resistance to the current tax levels and system, with domestic terrorism.  It’s obvious from the note left by Stack that he is no fan of the government, specifically calling out the IRS and FAA, as well as Congress’ manipulation of the tax code.  It will likely be a few small correlations between Stack’s manifesto, his actions, and the MIAC report that generate more government scrutiny of those who oppose the continued growth of the federal government.

The budget submitted by President Barack Obama for FY 2011 contains a tax increase of $1 trillion:

Taxes on high-income earners would rise by nearly $1 trillion over the next 10 years, under the budget plan put forward by President Barack Obama on Monday.

The bulk of that increase comes as tax cuts enacted under President George W. Bush expire at the end of 2010.

The top two income-tax rates, which affect people earning more than $200,000 a year, or $250,000 for married couples, will return to 36% and 39.6%, from 33% and 35% now.

Under the budget plan, capital gains and dividends would be taxed at 20%, up from 15% now, for people at those income levels.

In a time of economic uncertainty, increasing tax rates is asking for more problems. This tax increase by default. Simply by letting the Bush tax cuts expire, will hit small businesses that file individual income tax returns.

When you’re sitting at 10% unemployment, with some economists predicting a worsening of that figure, increasing taxes is the opposite of what the president and leaders in Congress should be doing.

The income tax was probably the worst idea (okay, not the worst, but close) when it comes to taxes. Who thought of this anyway? “Hey, I have a great idea: let’s tax everyone’s incomes.” Or an even better idea, “No, no, no, let’s take it further and the more someone makes, the more they get taxed!” Penalize people for producing. Great idea.

Ending the income tax at any level is a worthy goal, and it appears that goal may well be accomplished in Massachusetts this year. The following is a message from the Campaign for Liberty in support of the organization SmallGovernmentAct.org.

Dear Fellow Supporters of Ron Paul,

Ron Paul campaigned to Repeal the Income Tax – and dramatically shrink the size and power of government. Now you have the opportunity to take the first step to make Ron Paul’s dream a reality – by helping us to repeal the income tax in Massachusetts this November 4th.

We are co-sponsors of Ballot Question 1, the legally-binding ballot measure that will END the Massachusetts state income tax.

Thanks to the hard work of The Committee for Small Government, the people of Massachusetts have the opportunity to change the rate of their state income tax via a ballot initiative.  And what will the new tax rate be?

A nice flat zero.

The same initiative will also end the state’s capital gains tax.  A similar measure was first introduced in 2002, and despite early polling that put the measure’s support at 34% or less, it ended up receiving 45.5% of the vote.

This time around, polls are showing a dead heat, with the initiative trailing 46 percent to 45 percent — within the margin of error.

“I don’t think there’s anyone who doubts the possibility we’re going to win this time,” says Carla Howell, chairman of the Committee for Small Government.