In Federalist Paper 30, Alexander Hamilton was not able to look far enough into the future to see the taxation that would exist in 2015. Instead he wrote, “It may perhaps be imagined that, from the scantiness of the resources of the country, the necessity of diverting the established funds in the case supposed would exist, though the national government should possess an unrestrained power of taxation. But two considerations will serve to quiet all apprehension on this head: one is, that we are sure the resources of the community, in their full extent, will be brought into activity for the benefit of the Union; the other is, that whatever deficiencies there may be, can without difficulty be supplied by loans.”

Thus he was saying that the country would continue in the economic conditions of the 1700s and they did not count on the greediness of a large federal government. They were also recent victors of extricating them from the imposition of taxes from England. They had, of course, assumed that individuals seeking government office would be servants of the people and restrain their desire for power and control. He did recognize that the constitution allowed the government to raise taxes for whatever reason the government determined.

However, he was naïve to think two conditions would remain in effect. First, that any taxes imposed would be used for the common good of the Union and if the taxes imposed were not enough that the government could choose to secure loans.

Little did Alexander Hamilton realize the government confiscation of resources from the people! The motive has been explained many times as for the “good of the general population.” That can be easily questioned however, because we live in an entitlement generation and the social and welfare programs are out of control. Young mothers have babies out of wedlock, just to acquire larger welfare payments. People out of work choose to not work as long as the unemployment compensation continues. Subsidy programs are consistently abused, rather than personal initiative to get off federal support. I do not oppose those who are in need of support, just the extensive abuse of federal programs. Zero Hedge lists 97 different taxes we pay.¹ I cannot imagine how many jobs are federally funded to support this seizure of personal property! I believe in paying taxes for internal and external defense and other government ministries like the CIA, FBI and national infrastructure. There are other requirements that are needed, but government has become far larger than Hamilton ever would have imagined “all in the name of the common good for the population. “

This is seizing personal property for the good of the community through taxes. The Lord said we should pay taxes (Rom. 13:1-7) and I support that. However, enough is enough. The federal requirement for our prison population has doubled from 3 billion per year in 2000 to 6 billion per year in 2014. We should return to restitution, accountability, personal responsibility for payment of criminal offenses. We should dismantle the IRS and restore a simpler system based on user taxes. We can understand how Hamilton would have not seen 200 years into the future, but we should restore the spirit of the law, and not allow the letter of the law to increase the government.

¹ http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-03-25/list-97-taxes-americans-pay-every-year