Joy Reid, on Monday, criticized the idea of eliminating the income tax, calling it a move driven by Republicans’ desire to return the country to how it was in the 20th century, whatever that means.
“And one of the reasons they’re so serious about it is that, if you go back before the 20th century, there were no income taxes,” Reid said. “There were no regulations on business. You could earn as much money as you want, leave 100% of it to your children with no taxes. That’s the world they want back.”
“And to get it back, they need society to change. They need people to be less modern. They need people to want fewer things. They need people to be satisfied just being workers. And they don’t really believe that any of us have natural rights,” she added.
“I mean, one of the things that, you know, people say is alarmist to say, but it is just true, is that we are in a fascist moment,” Reid continued. “And what that means is a right-wing, White nationalist, White supremacist moment that is centered around hierarchy.”
If eliminating the income tax and reducing business regulations constitutes the “fascist agenda,” then Joy Reid has no understanding of political or economic freedom. Our founders would have seen the income tax as a severe infringement on both, granting the government excessive control over the private finances of individual citizens.
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Putting more money in the pockets of Americans is what propelled Donald Trump to victory in 2024. The Biden administration’s failure to control inflation, combined with Kamala Harris’s pledge to maintain the status quo that eroded American spending power, cost them the election.
The 16th Amendment to the Constitution made it legal for the federal government to tax individual incomes. It was driven by progressive reformers, and a lack of federal revenue needed to fund increasing government programs and social welfare. While championed by progressives, there is no argument that the increased taxation came at the price of freedom.
President Trump himself has toyed with the idea of abolishing the income tax and replacing the missing money with tariff revenue. It remains to be seen if that will be a viable replacement.
