tax was unconstitutional:
1) Many of our Founders were afraid that if government got the right to protect free speech, for example, they would instead eliminate it.
Such was the fear of liberal government.
2) the income tax was ruled unconstitutional because it was a direct tax, i.e., a direct tax on a person's income that could not be avoided, whereas before taxes had been on transactions that one could much more easily avoid but simply not making a particular transaction.
Such was the disdain for what liberal government could do with our money versus what we could do with our own hard earned money.
It's not your money. Property rights are created by government so if the government says it's their money, it's their money.
Property rights are created by the government, therefore the government has a right to take your property?
How can anyone with two or more brain cells believe that?
What about wealth, does the government create that, too?
Dear CJ and JS:
I would say yes and no.
1. Yes I understand the idea that if people depend on govt for property rights, and give too much authority to govt to make those decisions, we can lose our property when that authority is abused. It happened in my neighborhood long before KELO came out and scared everyone, who ran to their State legislatures to write corrective laws to prevent overstepping authority to seize property based on tax revenue as serving public interest!
2. And I also agree with CJ that since rights are inalienable then just because we agree to make decisions publicly through govt does NOT mean we consent to authorize govt to take our rights away!
3. However, there is a difference between inalienable rights such as intellectual freedom that are independent of other people vs. property rights that may involve disputes with land that could have claims from others for the same reason.
You have the inalienable right to own your own property.
But where conflicts exist and other people are claiming the same rights,
the only way I see to prevent govt or third parties from having more say
than you in resolving a dispute is to claim equal govt authority to make any
such decision by CONSENSUS. So you are NOT giving govt more authority
than yourself in final say over how a dispute over property is settled.
This idea of consent of the governed or right to enforce consensus as the
standard on decisions could be derived from free exercise of religion in Article 1
or from equal protection of persons under Article 14, but is not directly stated.
if you believe in consensus and practice it, it could be argued as your
religious freedom to have this standard enforced for you instead of
imposition by any party even govt against your will so long as you
also respect the same equal will for others including govt. So that
would be a combination of the 1st and 14th Amendment if
consensus-based govt is your belief that you practice, and are
not just using this to defy authority but actually enforce it yourself.
This would also enforce the idea that rights are inalienable and
given to people by God, and don't depend on govt, but vice versa,
that govt depends on reflecting the will and consent of the people.
So that is what I believe in enforcing, although it is not
written directly in the laws. I found consent of the governed
stated in the Declaration of Independence, and a form of
it as authority of the people being inviolate stated in the
Texas Bill of Rights under #2. It is mainly enforced
by practicing it, which makes sense if the authority
of govt is derived from the will and consent of the people!