Taxes

[snopes]

At first I thought this was funny... then I realized the awful truth of it. Be sure and read to the end!

Tax his land,
Tax his bed,
Tax the table
At which he's fed.

Tax his tractor,
Tax his mule,
Teach him taxes
Are the rule.

Tax his cow,
Tax his goat,
Tax his pants,
Tax his coat.

Tax his ties,
Tax his shirt,
Tax his work,
Tax his dirt.

Tax his tobacco,
Tax his drink,
Tax him if he
Tries to think.

Tax his cigars,
Tax his beers,
And if he cries,
Tax his tears.

Tax his car,
Tax his gas,
Find all the ways
To tax his ass.

Tax all he has
Then let him know
That you won't be done
Till he has no dough.

When he screams and hollers,
Then tax him some more,
Tax him till
He's good and sore.

Then tax his coffin,
Tax his grave,
Tax the sod in
Which he's laid.

Put these words
upon his tomb,
"Taxes drove me
to my doom..."

When he's gone,
Do not relax,
Now, its time to apply
Inheritance tax.

And don't forget --

Accounts Receivable Tax
Building Permit Tax
Business License Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Dog License Tax
Federal Income Tax
Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel Permit Tax
Gasoline Tax (42 cents per gallon)
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance Tax
Inventory Tax
Interest Income Tax
IRS Interest Charges, IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
Liquor Tax
Luxury Tax
Marriage License Tax
Medicare Tax
Property Tax
Real Estate Tax
Service Charge Taxes
Social Security Tax
Road Usage Taxes
Sales Tax
Recreational Vehicle Tax
School Tax
State Income Tax
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
Telephone Federal Excise Tax
Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax
Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Tax
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax
Telephone Recurring and Nonrecurring Charges Tax
Telephone State and Local Tax
Telephone Usage Charge Tax
Utility Taxes
Vehicle License Registration Tax
Vehicle Sales and License Tax
Watercraft Registration Tax
Well Permit Tax
Workers Compensation Tax

Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago, and our nation was the most prosperous in the world. We had absolutely no national debt. We had an Army and Navy, the Marines and Coast Guard. We had the largest middle class population in the world. A man's salary brought in enough money to support his family. Mom could stay home and raise the kids.

Now, I have to press #1 to get someone to speak English to me on a telephone. What in the world has happened to the USA during the last 100 years?

I hope this goes around the world 10 times...

[snopes]

Umm ... hasn't liquor been taxed since at least the 18th century? That's what the Whiskey Rebellion was all about, wasn't it?

- snopes

[Dropbear]

Originally Posted by snopes

A man's salary brought in enough money to support his family. Mom could stay home and raise the kids.

Because everybody was married and had well paid jobs (at least everybody important that is...)

Dropbear

[Tarquin Farquart]

I think it's a bit unfair to include all of those Telephone taxes. Who had a telephone 100 years ago?

I'm also pretty sure there are telephone taxes dating back to the late 1800s, which would (gasp) be more than 100 years ago.

ETA: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20050630-5056.html <---Telephone taxes to fund Spanish-American War. I kid you not. Guess that means luxury taxes were around more than 100 years ago too! (Sorry, Tarquin, this post wasn't intended to throw egg in your face--we just happened to post at the same time. )

[KathyB]

You can find all sorts of lists of taxes that did not exist 100 years ago, with all sorts of commentary about "I never heard of this tax" and "that tax was repealed years ago" and "that tax was started in 1854". The earliest ones I found date to 2003.

I have a distinct memory of researching the dog license tax for one of these lists--probably for the old MB. Ah, here it is as a Google cache. The thread dates to Dec. 2004.

Taxes?

[incubus]

Originally Posted by snopes

Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago, and our nation was the most prosperous in the world. We had absolutely no national debt.

So...the reason we had no national debt was because we didn't tax as many things a hundred years ago?

Bwaa...?

J

I think it should be noted that a lot of those items are fees, not taxes. There is a difference.

[Sister Ray]

Until I actually read the bit, I thought "Shouldn't we credit George Harrison here?"

Sister "but then again, that's my favorite beatles song" Ray

[JoeBentley]

Now, I have to press #1 to get someone to speak English to me on a telephone.

And that has what to do with taxes?

Originally Posted by JoeBentley

And that has what to do with taxes?

Well, if our taxes were gone, we could have a 'Merican on that phone line (tax free).

[HollowMan]

If we're talking about an individual here, why are they paying Accounts Receivable Tax, Inventory Tax (haven't heard of those yet) Corporate Income Tax, Workers Comp Tax, and Unemployment Tax?

[Ieuan ab Arthur]

Hi All:

I love these "things was better back when" diatribes. Hey, everyone knows that the world was perfect back in 1907.

Accounts receivable tax? A business has to pay a tax on revenue and then an additional, separate tax on A/R? Boy, that's some strange accounting.

Originally Posted by snopes

I hope this goes around the world 10 times...

It probably will. Stupidity knows no boundaries.

Ta ra 'wan,

Ieuan "In my day, we didn't have none of these fancy taxes, and we liked it" ab Arthur

[Don Enrico]

Originally Posted by snopes

Umm ... hasn't liquor been taxed since at least the 18th century? That's what the Whiskey Rebellion was all about, wasn't it?

- snopes

I seem to remeber some story about a tax on tea and a party in Boston - wasn't that more than a hundred years ago, too?

Don Enrico

[snopes]

I bet one could compile a list of fair length about things that used to be taxed but no longer are.

- snopes

[Tarquin Farquart]

Originally Posted by snopes

IRS Interest Charges, IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)

Surely if you pay your tax on time these don't apply...

[surfcitydogdad]

Originally Posted by Sister Ray

...I thought "Shouldn't we credit George Harrison here?"

My thoughts exactly! It's on the Beatles' Revolver album, for those of you who don't remember.

The poem was a fine little piece of humor, but then was ruined by the attempt to politicize it, with an added good old days message, especially:
"A man's salary brought in enough money to support his family. Mom could stay home and raise the kids.
Now, I have to press #1 to get someone to speak English to me on a telephone. What in the world has happened to the USA during the last 100 years?"

Yes, one income was always enough to provide, and mom never had to tend to livestock or do other folks' sewing or washing. And, oh, those horrible non-English speakers; it's so hard to press 1! What happened in the last 100 years? Well, let's see, there were those awful little social and political changes such as women's suffrage, contraception, antibiotics, and the end of Jim Crow.

Whatever could have raised taxes? How about those little tax-blackholes known as the military-industrial complex, the nanny state, the war on drugs, corporate welfare, and the US as world police. You don't suppose those little governmental innovations did more to suck the taxpayers dryer than any groupies ever did the Beatles? But no, higher taxes and other ills must clearly be blamed on greater social equality, rather than "defense spending" and military adventurism. It must be the fault of gays and Spanish-speakers, rather than, let's say, wars and government boondoggles. So always say the yearners for the good old days, when the air was clean, sex was dirty, and women and minorities knew their places.

Absolutely, Ieuan ab Arthur; "everyone knows that the world was perfect back in 1907."
Actually, if you're male, in the dominant group, and middle-class or richer, things are always better in any year, than if you're not! Damn those changes that keep coming, such as equality under the law, and people standing up for their rights!

[rlobinske]

A man's salary brought in enough money to support his family. Mom could stay home and raise the kids.

Yeah, that's why we had child labor and the need to enforce laws against it.

Yeah, because on all those farms a century ago, only the "manly-man" went out in the fields to work. The "wimmin-folk" and children stayed at home and didn't have to contribute a thing to the operation.

[matches]

Really? By What Mesure? Wasn't that the hieght of the British Empire (you know the Brits, they were those guys that taxed us back in the day, and the guys taxing George Harrison when he wrote that song) wasn't that a relativly prosperous enterprise?

Or were they talking about some time in the 1860's which would have been 100 years before the song was written, which probably seemed more prosperous due to the ample supply of slave labor.

[TrishDaDish]

All I know is that frigging poem taxed the hell outta me.