Repeal the Income Tax

Defending his tax-cut proposal last night, President Bush said, “Unrestrained government spending is a dangerous road to deficits, so we must take a different path. Let the American people spend their own money to meet their own needs, to fund their own priorities, and pay down their own debts.” What Bush failed to explain — what Republicans always fail to explain — is why the American people should not be free to decide what to do with *all* of their money. If people’s income rightfully belongs to them, then why is government even debating how much to permit them to keep? Let’s raise the ante, Mr. Bush. Forget the tinkering and propose a fundamental change in the relationship between the citizen and the state: a repeal of the national income tax and the abolition of the IRS. Wouldn’t this truly let the American people “spend their own money to meet their own needs, to fund their own priorities, and pay down their own debts”?