The British tax people have discovered of a new tax source, the smiling
face of the head tax man Phillip Hammond appearing prominently in this
article:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/11/19/revealed-treasury-to-announce-tax-raid-on-work-perks-enjoyed-by/?WT.mc_id=e_DM225451&WT.tsrc=email&etype=Edi_FAM_New_AEM_Recipient&utm_source=email&utm_medium=Edi_FAM_New_AEM_Recipient_2016_11_20&utm_campaign=DM225451
I thought of the Beatles song while reading it. By coincidental
contrast I've been reading Henry Adams /First Administration of
Jefferson. /Jefferson was a Republican who didn't believe in a strong
executive, the examples of strong monarch's in European nations were too
strong a threat for him to think otherwise, and yet there he was,
President of the United States, and someone needed to be in charge. He
wasn't being hypocritical in exercising more power than he believed the
U.S. president ought to have, but in doing what he believed was right he
was indeed exercising the power available to him as president. In 1801
he did something that would be anathema to Phillip Hammond. He
abolished all internal taxes.
Actually what Jefferson did would be anathema to most American
politicians as well. Maybe modern day Republicans would lean a bit more
in his direction. Trump as Bush (the younger) and Reagan before him
intends to lower taxes, but no one today suggests that government can do
without them. And the Federalists of Jefferson's day, a minority in
congress but possessing the best orators, were very uncomfortable with
Jefferson's decision. However, as Adams writes on page 184 of the
Library of America edition, "Resistance to the abolition of taxes was
impossible after the promise which the President's Message held out.
The Federalists themselves had made peace with France, and hostilities
between France and England had ceased. For the first time in ten years
no danger of foreign war was apparent, and if the Administration offered
to effect economies in the public service, Congress could hardly deny
that economies were possible."
I need to read ahead to discover whether all taxes were indeed
abolished. If so where did Jefferson get the money later on to purchase
the Louisiana territory from Napoleon, and wouldn't Jefferson have been
better off beefing up the U.S. military in accordance with Federalist
wishes? Had they done so the War of 1812 wouldn't have been such an
iffy thing. Indeed the U.S. might well have accomplished the goals of
some politicians at the time (not Jefferson) and conquered Canada; which
would mean that instead of hoping to move to Northern Idaho I might
today be considering a move to British Colombia -- or maybe not. I
suspect everyone up there would have voted for Hillary and our own Tax
Man would be scouring records of our incomes to find new things to tax.
In the meantime my favorite hiking area, the usually dry riverbed of the
San Jacinto River has been inundated by "street people." I've been
referring to them as trolls since the first ones that interfered with my
hiking actives lived under a bridge. The last time I was down there,
hiking through some brush not hitherto inhabited by trolls, my dogs
veered off to some bushes. I stopped and looked back and there was a
little man with some binoculars staring off toward the south levee.
Without looking at me he said, "ah ha. You walked right by me without
seeing me. Your dogs saw me, but you never did."
I found that a curious thing to say but did ask, "are you staying
here." He answered, "Yep, I'm one of them"; which made it sound as
though he and the others were getting criticism from somewhere. I
asked, "are you from Riverside"? I had heard that the street people in
Riverside had been chased out of the parks they had been camping in. He
said, "nope. I was destined for this life six months ago." I didn't
ask him where he was getting money to live on. Living off of the land
clearly wasn't possible at the river. Was he getting enough government
support to go down from the river to Stater Bros and buy groceries?
Jessica, my energetic seven-month old Irish Terrier was jumping up on
him for attention. He didn't put his hands on her, needing both of them
to hold his field glasses, but he turned sideways. Having been jumped on
by her myself I knew it wasn't a pleasant experience; so I called her
and we went on. Besides, I had learned enough for one day.
Lawrence
