As American as Apple Pie

I was reading comments to a story about Joe the Plumber and I saw a comment that stated that the Second Plank of the Communist Manifesto is "A heavy progressive or graduated income tax." The person making the comment continued that we were all voting for Communism if we vote for Barack Obama.

As I have read the Communist Manifesto, I had to agree that that is indeed the second plank. Of course, the other planks necessary for communism (abolition of property, abolition of inheritance, etc.) are absent from his argument, thus making him appear moronic and uninformed. This ignorant post did serve another purpose for me though because I started thinking about the history of the progressive tax in America.

History shows that America believes in the progressive tax. In fact, we believe in it so much that we amended the Constitution of the United States to include it. Amendment XVI states "The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever sources derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration." Amendment XVI was passed by Congress on July 12, 1909 and ratified by the states on February 3, 1913.

Akhil Amar explains in his acclaimed book, America’s Constitution: A Biography, “both sides in the national income-tax debate understood that [national income] taxes had been, and were likely to be, progressive income taxes — in particular, taxes that targeted the rich. Such taxes openly sought to democratize the economy."

President Taft, a Republican, proposed this amendment in 1909 and Woodrow Wilson, a Democrat, supported it during the ratification process. Even Teddy Roosevelt, John McCain's hero, said "The man of great wealth owes a peculiar obligation to the State, because he derives special advantages from the mere existence of government. Not only should he recognize this obligation in the way he leads his daily life and in the way he earns and spends his money, but it should also be recognized by the way in which he pays for the protection the States gives him."

Joe the Plumber and Governor Palin can talk all they want about spreading the wealth being a socialist comment, but history shows that it's an American concept.