W. Marc Gilfillan, CPA, NC, individual and business CPA and Tax expert, shares about the history of taxes…
So the question remains, what happened with taxes in the United States?
US tax makers have been collecting what they have been sowing for a long time. The honor system has been trumped by a system in which every tax payer is under watch because of the heavy inclination of evasion. Basically, compulsion has replaced consent. Honor has been replaced with spying on citizens. If you’re feeling the pressure with today’s taxes, call a Cary NC CPA for all your tax-related needs!
In the 1950s, there wasn’t a bank in the US that told the IRS about customer affairs, interest rates went unreported, withdrawals of cash were not reported, and not a thing that went through any account was photographed. In addition to this, real estate transactions were not reported, stock transactions weren’t reported, dividends weren’t reported, income from other sources (Form 1099) wasn’t reported, and US Customs didn’t require a declaration of the amount of money carried. Go here if you want help from a modern-day Tax Preparation in Cary, NC.
Before it was espionage, it was an honor system, and it worked. The erosion that occurred over the previous fifty years to now is that everything of any fiscal significance is now reported.
Adam Smith stated that people will evade taxes and tax laws shown no credence when there is a general suspicion of a lot of meaningless expense and a lot of misapplication of the public revenue. In other words, $500 toliet seats, huge grants to study the sex lives of ants, etc.
For the sake of catching a few tax resisters and evaders in the 1950s Congress spawned a tax monster of the US tax system that more and more taxpayers attempt to bypass. As a general rule, widespread tax evasion is a clear signal that a government’s tax system isn’t working. Citizens will pay taxes, even income taxes, if the rates are acceptable.
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