European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 13, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday August 13, 1993 commentary the stars and stripes Page 15 taxation nothing is More infuriating than the seizure of citizens hard earned wealth by government that imposes excessive taxes while refusing to curb its spending appetite. Recall that taxes fuelled the fire of the declaration of Independence and the revolutionary War. The founders anticipated the a a taxing events of recent years and recent Days during their debates on the adoption of the Federal Constitution in 178788. Revisiting those debates in Jonathan Elliott a 1901 Book the debates in the several state conventions on the adoption of the Federal Constitution shows that those who inaugurated the american Experiment saw inherent danger in the new governments Power to tax and spend. Thomas Hartley a colonel in the revolutionary War and a ,.delegate from Pennsylvania said the Power of taxation is then a great and important Trust but we Lodge it with our own representatives and As Long As we continue virtuous we shall be Safe for they will not dare to abuse  no one today Speaks of Congress and virtue in the same sentence. The founders anticipated and so wrote in article 1, Section 8, of the Constitution that the Power granted to Congress to expend Money was solely to Benefit the Quot general  Thomas Jefferson explained that far from a License to spend the intent was tfx Iota Hartlap of Mikl Tandri id  oppression Cal Thomas to Quot limit the Power of taxation to matters that would provide for the welfare of Quot the  Alexander Hamilton and others concurred with Jefferson Sposi inn in. In. Al. To .1__�?�_____ Tion. So sure were they of the rightness of their position that Archibald Maclaine a Patriot and spokesman from North Carolina was moved to conclude Quot Congress will not Lay a single tax when it is not to the advantage of the people at large.�?�. While the Quot general welfare clause was eventually modified by the courts James Madison delivered a Stern warning to Congress that was remarkably prescient Quot if Congress can apply Money indefinitely to the general welfare and Are the sole and supreme judges of the general welfare they May take the care of religion into their own hands they May take into their own hands the education of children establishing in like manner schools throughout the Union they May undertake the regulation of All roads other than Post roads. In Short everything from the highest object of state legislation Down to the most minute object of policy would be thrown under the Power of Congress for every object i have mentioned would admit the application of Money and might be called if Congress pleases provisions for the general  the out of control social welfare and increased deficit spending by Congress is proof that Madison was right. It was not cynicism but experience that led the Massachusetts Patriot John Smith to say a it is a general Maxim that All governments end a use for As much Money As they can raise. Indeed they have commonly demands for More., Congress will Ever exercise their Powers to Levy As much Money As the people can pay. They will not be restrained from direct taxes by the consideration that necessity does not require them Quot Jefferson too saw the future of an unbridled Congress when he wrote Quot we must make our election Between Economy and Liberty or profusion and servitude. If we run into such debts As that we must be taxed in our meat and in our drink in our necessities and our comforts in our labors and our amusements for our callings and our creeds As the people of England Are our people like them must come to labor 16 hours in the 24, and give the earnings of15 of these to the government for their debts and daily expenses and the 16th being insufficient to afford us bread we must live As they now do on Oatmeal and potatoes have no time to think no Means of calling the mis managers to account but be glad to obtain subsistence by hiring our selves to rivet their chains on the necks of our fellow sufferers. Quot this example reads to us the salutary lesson that private fortunes Are destroyed by Public As Well As by private extravagance. And this is the tendency of All human governments. A departure from principle in one instance becomes a precedent for a second that second for a third and so on till the bulk of the society is reduced to be Mere automatons of misery to have no sensibilities left but for sinning and  Jefferson believed that the Quot for horse of this frightful team is Public debt. Taxation follows that and in its train wretchedness and  if the present Congress and president refuse to see the Wisdom of what our founders established perhaps it is time for another american revolution. As Long As we allow government to increase our taxes it will continue to do so emulating King George i from whom in the course of human events it became Quot necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with one another. A c lot angolan to Moa Syndicate wire act has democrats worried the White House speech writers May have thought they were being Clever when they suggested to president Clinton that he Salute the hair breadth passage of his budget and economic plan with the line a the margin was close but the mandate is  truth is they did him no favors. Whatever else it May be this measure reflected no mandate a past present or future. It is less a rallying Point for congressional democrats than a High wire Over a political abyss. It was a far cry from the program on which Clinton won his plurality Victory last november. That one you May recall promised tax Relief for Middle class families with children and significant social and economic investment for future jobs. Nor was it the program of Quot shared sacrifice Quot he described at the outset of his term when deficit reduction had become his main goal. The longer the Clinton program was out there the less the Public embraced it. After the presidents latest televised Appeal to the nation the phone Calls to Capitol Hill turned increasingly negative. Instead of providing cover for reluctant democrats Clinton furnished evidence that he was asking them to step into political Quicksand. In the end it took extraordinary synchronized efforts by the president the White House staff. David s. Broder and the democratic congressional leadership a playing the old Washington game of cajole by barter Jefe sure and Reward a to carry it by a total of three votes in a House and Senate where democrats have a 94-seat majority. The Man who held the plans Fate in his hands sen. Robert j. Kerrey voted yes Only after excoriating the president for abandoning the Quot High Road and accepting a result that the Nebraska Democrat said will produce Quot disdain distrust and  some endorsement. The Bill that Clinton strained so mightily to pass is in fact a Pale pastiche of conflicting policy goals All of them so marginally achieved that they inevitably will have to be revised. Do not be distracted by All the blather about $496 billion of a a real deficit reduction supposedly guaranteed by being set aside in an untouchable Trust fund to a buy Down Quot the National debt. The House budget committee a in democratic hands a estimates that if All goes according to the Clinton plan the debt will go up not Down by $887 billion in the next four years. Susan Tanaka of the committee for a responsible Federal budget called the Bill a a disappointment and said it is Quot like a Tourniquet. It May slow the Haemorrhage but it is not a Long term  nor is the measure notably better when it comes to the investments Clinton rightly said Are necessary to prepare this nation for the Tough competitive challenges of the 21st. Century. Labor Secretary Robert Reich an architect of Clinton a economic plan said the Bill will yield about half the investments the administration had sought. Congress spared most of the physical infrastructure and technology programs but by Reich a reckoning the bargaining left Only 38 cents of every Dollar Clinton had hoped to put into education and training initiatives aimed at making the american work Force More skillful and employable. Ti1e big amp est single reason that the measure Falls far Short of what is needed for deficit cutting and investment is that the administration sidestepped the Tough Issue of curbing entitlement spending Tor social Security medicare and medicaid. Those retirees with outside incomes Large enough that they already Are taxed on their social Security benefits will be taxed More. Other senior citizens Are % spared any sacrifice. The failure to address the entitlement Issue stems directly from the administrations fateful decision to cast its first budget in partisan terms a As a measure that would reverse 12 years of Ronald Reagan George Bush economics. In its distributional effects it certainly does that raising marginal rates sharply for the lop bracket and supplementing the wages of millions of working poor through expansion of the earned income tax credit. The Quot fairness Quot question is the one Clinton most successfully addressed in this budget. But he did so at a High Price. He sacrificed the Opportunity to enlist Republican support in a bipartisan Effort that still offers the Only real Hope of curbing entitlement spending and slaying the deficit dragon. When Clinton abandoned a serious attempt to Stow the runaway growth of entitlements he was forced to impose $240 billion of tax increases and run the risk of stalling an already puny economic recovery. Those taxes will make it harder to finance the health care Reform plan that Clinton is committed to offering this autumn. No wonder democrats Are nervous about this a a Victory their president has won. C the Washington Post