Lets answer this

[zekeson]

I actually received a piece of junk email I haven't seen 7 times before!

Its a list of taxes, and ends by saying none of these existed 100 years ago - what the heck happened? Well, most are easily answered, the taxes are in response to changes in society, or are taxes to luxuries (recreational vehicle taxes, etc) that didn't exist, etc. Some simply did exist - Road Toll Booth Taxes, and actually are red herrings since we now have better mobility on better roads that aren't toll roads than 100 years ago - duh.

anyone want to help me take a stab at these so I can send them back to my Freeper-type brother-in-law?


Taxes

Accounts Receivable Tax
Building Permit Tax
Capital Gains Tax
CDL License Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Court Fines (indirect taxes)
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 Interest expense (tax on the money)
Inventory tax IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax)
IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
Liquor Tax
Local Income Tax
Luxury Taxes
Marriage License Tax
Medicare Tax
Property Tax
Real Estate Tax
Septic Permit Tax
Service Charge Taxes
Social Security Tax
Road Usage Taxes (Truckers)
Sales Taxes
Recreational Vehicle Tax
Road Toll Booth Taxes
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 taxes
Telephone minimum usage surcharge tax
Telephone recurring and non-recurring charges tax
Telephone State and local tax
Telephone usage charge tax
Toll Bridge Taxes
Toll Tunnel Taxes
Traffic Fines (indirect taxation)
Trailer registration tax
Utility Taxes
Vehicle License Registration Tax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Watercraft registration Tax
Well Permit Tax
Workers Compensation Tax


COMMENTS: Not one of these taxes existed 100
years ago and our nation was
the most prosperous in the world, had
absolutely no national debt, had the
largest middle class in the world and Mom
stayed home to raise the kids.

What the heck happened?

[gWbush is Mabus]

1. .

Mom went to work and the whole shithouse went up in flames

[ieoeja]

2. I'll start

Telephone federal excise tax
Telephone federal universal service fee tax
Telephone federal, state and local surcharge taxes
Telephone minimum usage surcharge tax
Telephone recurring and non-recurring charges tax
Telephone State and local tax
Telephone usage charge tax


This is an easy one. The telephone had to be invented before it could be taxed.

[Bossy Monkey]

4. Nope. Telephone invented 1878 or so. (n/t)

[HereSince1628]

8. Nope it was invented by an Italian in Cuba in 1871! I've got a link!!!!

http://english.pravda.ru/society/2002/06/18/30623.html

But, either way the telephone was around in 1903.

[catpower2000]

3. Well, some of these are easy...

The telephone was not in regular use. All of the gas taxes, road usage taxes, etc were created after CARS were in regular use. Federal and state income tax were put in so we could have a few trivial things, like oh say, SCHOOLS. (100 years ago, Mom stayed home to raise kids who were functionally illiterate and worked slave labor hours on the family farm.) Social security was created for very valid reasons.

Cat

[TEXASYANKEE]

5. Just a thought ...

But I thought that the "Middle Class" came about after the boys came back from WWII, got an education via the GI Bill, and were able to buy affordable housing. This would have been early 1950s.

[ieoeja]

6. Liquor Tax

George Washington had to put down a rebellion over the liquor tax during his presidential administration. So you can toss out that one as well.

Regarding the conclusion: 100 years ago the United States was NOT the most prosperous in the world. And as to what happened, does the Industrial Revolution sound familiar?

[Kolesar]

7. He ought to be glad they aren't taxing Preparation H or Rolaids

If you threw out the modern technology items, most of the list would be gone.

20th century accomplishments
municipal police
public education
collective bargaining

19th century traditions:
pyorrhea
polio
smallpox
black lung disease
cholera
lynchings
corporate trusts
railroad monopolies
unregulated stock markets
...and Mom stayed home to raise the kids.

[Kamika]

9. heh

COMMENTS: Not one of these taxes existed 100
years ago and our nation was
the most prosperous in the world, had
absolutely no national debt, had the
largest middle class in the world and Mom
stayed home to raise the kids.

What the heck happened?


:wow:

1st off i dont think we were the most prosperous nation in the world back then..

and middle class? i thought middle class didnt even exist until atleats mid 20th century

This letter seems to be the standard freeper junk **** mail.

"and mom stayed home to raise the kids" well whopidifockido im SURE thats the main reason why were going down in blazes because WOMEN JUST DONT STAY HOME ANYMORE. The freepers got the SOLUTION all hail bush!! Its us womens fault because we dont f*cking stay home anymore

[kmla]

10. Alot of other stuff didn't exist 100 years ago, either...

Like:

women's suffrage
interstate highways
average lifespans beyond 60
The Air Force
Civil Rights Legislation
Rampant pollution
Rampant corporate fraud (this one is arguable)
Water Quality Standards
a vaccine for polio
a vaccine for smallpox
etc., etc., etc.

Any goober can point out stuff that didn't exist, and say "Boy, wasn't it great back then?" That still doesn't make an era great. This type of argument is just another way of stirring up discontent and cynicism.

It's hip to be a cynic today. But today's cynics are tomorrow's grouchy old bastards that sit on their front porch in a wife-beater undershirt and yell at passing kids who walk by their house....

[xray s]

11. Hey...if you want to live in 1903...

with 1903 public services, 1903 sanitation, 1903 health care, 1903 roads, 1903 public transporation, 1903 horse shit in your street, 1903 milk laced with formaldehyde, 1903 spoiled meat products, 1903 police and fire services, 1903 drinking water, 1902 air quality and a 1903 military then go live in the mountains of Afghanistan. I hear you don't have to worry about taxes there.

If you want to live in 2003, you have to pay for some things, and that is done by collecting taxes.

[Richardo]

14. And working conditions: Triangle Shirt Waist Fire killed 146 in 1911

When fire swept through the building in the spring of 1911, locked doors and missing fire escapes contributed to the deaths of 146 workers, most of them young women. Many leapt to their deaths in a vain effort to avoid the flames.


http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/pwwmh/ny30.htm

[xray s]

15. Just read "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair

Describes 1903 very well...

[Kenneth ken]

12. I got this the other week

this was my response:

Rubbish. Court fines existed 100 years ago.

The National Debt (07-01-1903) was $ 2,202,464,781.89
(See www.publicdebt.treas.gov/opd/opd.htm) for details.

Middle Class is a vague term; it clearly does not factor in the many children who were working in factories, since obviously, they were not home being raised by Mom. (The Keating-Owen Act was passed in 1916 - until then, there was no law regarding how long children could be worked, what age they could be hired at, etc.)

The person(s) who put together this list of taxes is apparently trying to induce readers into thinking the US had some Utopian golden age in the early 1900s.

Both the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act were passed into law in 1906 - prior to that, consumers were completely on their own as to whether the food they bought was edible or not.

The purpose of Government is to provide security and protection for the entire citizenry. It is not in the people's best interest for business to be completely unregulated - S&L collapse, Enron, WorldCom, etc. are/were predictable results of deregulation. Similarly, it is not in the people's best interest for murder, robbery, rape etc. to be unpoliced.

These things have to be paid for. That is the function of taxation. I will admit that tax imposition, collection, and subsequent spending are not always carried out in the best interests of the people, but abolishing government via abolition of taxes is a certain path to anarchy. If you want to complain about taxation, look at who is providing the most money to elect politicians; look at who spends the most money lobbying Congress for-or-against various legislation; look who primarily benefits from most legislation that is enacted and/or repealed. One answer: Big Business.

[Wickerman]

13. deleted cuz I make little sense

[radwriter0555]

16. What will worrying about all this ACCOMPLISH?

Other than wasting a LOT of time?

[Wickerman]

18. You ask this about something in the Lounge?

Bwaahaaahaaa!!!

Get a life.

[TreasonousBastard]

17. Needless to say, much of this didn't exist back then...

but the whole thing is a load of crap anyway.

Just off the top of my head:

(and there may be more aerrors on the list, but I'm not going to look them up)

Accounts Receivable Tax
Building Permit Tax
Depended on the town
Capital Gains Tax
CDL License Tax
No cars, but there were hack licenses
Cigarette Tax
Tobacco tax stamps
Corporate Income Tax
Court Fines (indirect taxes)
Fines always existed
Dog License Tax
Federal Income Tax
Had one under Lincoln
Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel Permit tax
Gasoline Tax (42 cents per gallon)
No cars
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance Tax Interest expense (tax on the money)
Inventory tax IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax)
IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
Liquor Tax
Always had liquor taxes
Local Income Tax
Luxury Taxes
Some luxury taxes existed
Marriage License Tax
If you needed a marriage license, I can't imagine no fee
Medicare Tax
Property Tax
Property taxes always existed
Real Estate Tax
Same thing, and don't forget deed registration stamps
Septic Permit Tax
Service Charge Taxes
Social Security Tax
Road Usage Taxes (Truckers)
Private toll roads and barge canal fees
Sales Taxes
Recreational Vehicle Tax No RV's
Road Toll Booth Taxes
Private toll roads
School Tax
Property tax
State Income Tax
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
Telephone federal excise tax
Few phones
Telephone federal universal service fee tax
Telephone federal, state and local surcharge taxes
Telephone minimum usage surcharge tax
Telephone recurring and non-recurring charges tax
Telephone State and local tax
Telephone usage charge tax
Toll Bridge Taxes
Private toll bridges
Toll Tunnel Taxes
Private tunnels (none underwater at the time, though)
Traffic Fines (indirect taxation)
Early cars were fined ruthlessly, and so were horse-drawn
vehicles
Trailer registration tax
Utility Taxes
Vehicle License Registration Tax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Watercraft registration Tax
Well Permit Tax
Workers Compensation Tax