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REMOVE HIDDEN AND UNJUST TAXES FROM THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION

"Progressive taxation is a clever con artist. It promises to pay society's toll on the road toward utopia, where every family's finances are above average. But its promises are false. And while it's making these false promises, progressive taxation is subtly appealing to the vices that plague human nature. Its lofty, noble-sounding promises provide cover for its real aim: robbing individuals, families, and society as a whole of their well-being by discouraging virtue and affirming vice. While promising a greater good, progressive taxation fools people into giving up what leads to economic and moral prosperity . . . Basing public policy on envy teaches people to nurture their natural tendency toward this vice, instead of to resist and rise above it. It encourages everyone to think himself a victim and perpetuates resentment because there will always be something to envy."

-- Leslie Carbone, Slaying Leviathan - The Moral Case for Tax Reform, (Washington, DC: Potomac Books, 2009)

The growing realization that the American tax system is dysfunctional, a huge drag on our economy, and in need of a complete replacement makes it more likely that Congress may attempt to do that in the next few years. The American People can help move this process forward by amending the United States Constitution. This must be done not only to force Congress to act, but to end or prevent the imposition of taxes that are unjust either because they are based on envy, are intended to punish specific employers and industries, or are hidden from view.

The PROSPERITY-GROWTH AMENDMENT would remove the immoral ingredients of envy and stealth from federal taxes and give Congress more than one full year to replace the tax code after the PROSPERITY-GROWTH AMENDMENT becomes part of the Constitution. It would remove the heavy chains of the national government from American job creators and job seekers. It can help make the 21st Century the 2nd American Century.

THE PROSPERITY-GROWTH
AMENDMENT

ARTICLE [ ]

Section 1. The sixteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.

Section 2. The Congress shall have no power to lay and collect taxes on incomes.

Section 3. The Congress shall have no power to lay and collect taxes on the possession or transfer of any property or interest in property, whether real, personal, commercial, intellectual, or financial, except as provided in Section 4.

Section 4. The Congress shall have no power to lay and collect taxes at any stage of the extraction, production, manufacture, and distribution of a commodity, good, or service, except at the time of final retail sale. Any such tax at the retail sales point shall be uniform throughout the United States and shall not exempt any sale because of the item, seller, purchaser, or location. Any commodity or good that has been sold at the retail sales point shall not be taxed upon its resale. For the purpose of this article, the retail sales point is the final point of sale to the end consumer.

Section 5. This article shall not affect the power of the Congress to lay and collect duties and imposts on goods imported into the United States.

Section 6. Any taxes imposed by the Congress prior to the ratification of this article by three-fourths of the several States, which would not be permitted under this article, shall terminate at the end of the thirty-first day of December in the year that follows the year in which this article becomes part of the Constitution, unless terminated earlier by the Congress.

Section 7. Once this article becomes part of the Constitution, the Congress shall not increase the taxes that will terminate the following year pursuant to section 6.

Section 8. All claims of the United States for taxes due under the laws terminated pursuant to section 6 shall expire not later than six years after such termination.

SECTION-BY-SECTION EXPLANATION

SECTION 1: Repeals the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which allowed the Federal Income Tax in 1913.

SECTION 2: In case the courts would try to invent something else in the Constitution to allow an income tax, this section plainly says NO INCOME TAX. This includes the personal income tax, corporate income tax, Social Security tax, Medicare and Medicaid taxes. Any tax based on the income of a person or a corporation is abolished.

SECTION 3: There can be no federal "wealth" or property tax. There can be no death or "estate" tax.

SECTION 4: There can be no hidden European-style Value Added Tax (VAT) or excise tax (such as the current gasoline tax). A national retail sales tax that is uniform and has no exemptions (no picking of winners and losers) would be allowed. A direct tax on the States in proportion to the Census would be allowed per U.S. Constitution, Article I, Section 9, Clause 4.

SECTION 5: Congress will still be able to impose duties and tariffs on goods imported into the United States.

SECTION 6: Congress will have one full January through December calendar year to replace the taxes eliminated by this amendment. This amendment can be passed before Congress enacts tax reform and it could force them to get the job done.

SECTION 7: Once the amendment is ratified, Congress cannot hike the income and other abolished taxes in the short period where they continue in force.

SECTION 8: The U.S. Government would have a maximum of six years to pursue tax debts stemming from the abolished taxes.

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