Labor Day: Celebrating the Contributions of Workers
Monday, September 1st, is Labor Day, a federal holiday.
Why do we celebrate Labor Day?
Abraham Lincoln was born in a log cabin with a dirt floor. In 1860, he said, “I am not ashamed to confess that twenty-five years ago I was a hired laborer, mauling rails… I want every man to have a chance.”
In 1861, in his first address to Congress, Abraham Lincoln said, “Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital and deserves much the higher consideration.”
Even heirs to large fortunes who live off inherited wealth rely on the fact that their ancestors created that wealth by their labor.
To most people reading Lincoln’s quote, there would be no disagreement. Most of us believe this is a basic truth on the same level as “The sun rises in the east.”
The first Labor Day parade was organized by the Central Labor Union in New York City on September 5, 1882. This event featured a public parade of various labor organizations, followed by a picnic and speeches by labor leaders. The parade was a demonstration of solidarity and strength among workers, and it set the precedent for future Labor Day celebrations.
Labor Day became an official federal holiday in Oregon in 1887, and by 1894, thirty states were celebrating it. That same year, following the Pullman Strike—a nationwide railroad strike—Congress passed a bill making Labor Day a federal holiday, which President Grover Cleveland signed into law on June 28, 1894.
Traditionally, Labor Day is celebrated with parades, picnics, barbecues, and other public gatherings. These festivities often feature speeches by labor leaders and political figures, emphasizing the importance of labor in society.
Over time, Labor Day has also come to mark the unofficial end of summer, with many people taking advantage of the long weekend for vacations and family get-togethers.
CONCLUSION
Unless we were born with a huge trust fund and don’t need to “labor”, we are all laborers. We work to get the money we need to provide for our ourselves and our families.
Although withholding for Social Security started in 1935, income tax withholding started in 1943. According to Milton Friedman who proposed it while working at the Treasury Department, withholding was supposed to be “a temporary measure for the duration of the war”.
If you really believe that we should recognize the importance of labor, how can you justify a tax system that takes money out of the earnings of those of us who labor?
The elites and their minions in DC are not working with us. They are working against us in our efforts to turn our labor into the things our families want and need.
They are working feverishly to prop up a failed income/payroll tax system that harms all working people, while at the same time giving them control over our lives and providing them with a lucrative income stream.
The Elites tell us:
- We are being irresponsible by not saving enough money while they continue to discourage us from saving by taxing our savings and our investment income.
- That if we need more money, simply work harder, while they continue to prop up a tax system that discourages hard work by “rewarding” harder work with higher taxes.
- That they are working to help American businesses and save American jobs while they refuse to replace a tax system that favors imports and sends our jobs overseas.
- That federal deficits and federal debt are nothing to worry about even though they lead to inflation that robs working people of their purchasing power.
Isn’t it time to free all of us from the tyranny of the federal income tax and the IRS?
The income tax must go if we are going to make American great again.
If there is an income tax, any changes are only “permanent” until there is a new president whose party controls Congress.
A recent Quantas Insights poll showed that the majority of Republicans, Democrats and Independents are in favor of eliminating the income tax.
There is an alternative that eliminates the burden on individual citizens and reduces the burdens on businesses by over 90%.
This alternative is the FAIRtax—a simple and progressive national retail sales tax on the retail purchases of new goods and services.
In addition to removing the compliance burden on Americans, the FAIRtax also:
- Eliminates income taxes on Social Security—permanently.
- Eliminates income taxes on tips—permanently.
- Eliminates income taxes on overtime—permanently.
- Taxes imports and provides tax credits to U.S. exporters like all of our trading partners.
- Eliminates the need for most tariffs.
- Brings jobs back to the U.S.
- Eliminates federal taxes up to the poverty level.
- Requires no tax returns for individuals.
- Clearly shows the federal taxes hidden in the prices of the goods we purchase.
- Creates greater economic growth.
- Brings in capital that allows productivity increases and higher wages.
- Eliminate lobbyists and politicians selling tax benefits that harm the rest of us.
- ELIMINATES THE IRS!
We need to move now and put a stake in the heart of the income tax and the IRS so that they cannot be easily resurrected by a subsequent administration.
Many of you have labored tirelessly for freedom from the federal income tax and the IRS. You deserve a great deal of credit for your efforts to educate the American people on the need to fund the American government in a way that is good for America and returns freedom to the American people.
It is imperative, though, that we don’t replace the current income tax and the IRS with an alternative system that can still be manipulated by the Ruling Elite. We must let Congress and the President know that the best way to replace the income tax and the IRS is with the FAIRtax.
Make no mistake about it. The FAIRtax is a grave threat to the Ruling Elites. It will strip them of their power and their ability to control us though the tax system. Their opposition to the FAIRtax will be fierce and unrelenting. And don’t think for an instant that they won’t use half-truths, deception and downright lies in their desperate attempt to hang on to their power.
However, with the support of this President, we can finally eliminate the income tax and the IRS!!!
Of course, the best course of action is to not only repeal the income tax and abolish the IRS but to repeal the 16th Amendment as well so no future administration can ever shackle the American people with an income tax again.
We must come together and ensure that real tax reform, the FAIRtax, is not subverted by the Elites in D.C.
This will take the diligent efforts of all of us. We need your financial assistance, and we need your grass roots assistance.
If you have contacts that will allow us to get more information to President Trump about the FAIRtax please let us know.
Please email us at info@fairtax.org and we will give you some options on how you can best help us.
At a minimum, please call your Congressional representative and ask if he or she supports the FAIRtax. If so, thank him/her for their support and suggest they become a cosponsor of HR-25 if they’re not one already. If not, ask why not. If your representative claims to be unfamiliar with the FAIRtax, offer to have someone come to their office and explain it to them.
Please go to this link to invest in AFFT and help us pass the FAIRtax. It’s an investment in your and your family’s future.
THE SOLUTION—PASS THE FAIRTAX!
Why would D.C. pass the FAIRtax and give up this almost unlimited source of donations? The only way that they will is if the rest of us demand it!