The Limits of Taxation
March 25, 2019
Dear Chief Justice Marshall:
It is a pleasure to write to you for the first time and I am sure that you will be hearing from me again. I hope you don’t mind. I recently came across your quote while reading your decision in the McCulloch v. Maryland case and although that decision dealt with the implied powers of the Federal Government, this one small quote still has relevance regarding taxation even today:
“An unlimited power to tax involves, necessarily, a power to destroy; because there is a limit beyond which no institution and no property can bear taxation.”
John Marshall, McCullough v. Maryland, 1819
Justice Marshall, please allow me to give you a little background on what is going on today. We have a group of federal legislators who just love to spend our money. So much so that they have run up a deficit of over 21 trillion dollars, an issue which I discussed with President Jefferson in a previous letter. They all claim that we must get this deficit under control, but they do nothing to remedy the problem and it just continues to spiral upward and continues to grow.
We also have politicians who like to promise things for free, seeming to forget that money for these programs has to come from somewhere and that somewhere is “We the People” who will ultimately pay for it usually in the form of taxes. They seem to be promising everything under the sun from free healthcare for all estimated at $1.3 Trillion per year with free education for all just to name a few. Then there is the Green New Deal again estimated to cost $50 – $90 trillion over a 10-year period which will totally remake the way we live. The funny thing Mr. Chief Justice is that when asked how all this will be paid for the first reaction is RAISE TAXES!
But as you so aptly point out that there comes a time when any institution, group class, corporation, property you name it can bear taxation. Sooner or later there is no more to get. Sort of like my grandmother would always say, “you can’t get blood from a stone.”
You were also correct in stating that that power to tax also leads to a power to destroy. A small example of this is right here in my home state of New York, the most taxed state in the nation. This has led over the past few years to a decrease in the population of the state by over a million people. These people have moved to more “tax friendly” states while corporations have also moved from the state for the same reason further eroding the tax base. All this has begun to destroy a state whose nickname is “The Empire State.” Once probably the most envied and influential state in the union is now far from the Empire State and losing its clout to more tax friendly states like Florida and Texas. Proof that taxation has its limits and those who are taxed can only bear so much.
Maybe our politicians should start realizing that government does not need to get bigger but must shrink and start living within its means. They should read the preamble to the constitution, a document which you Mr. Chief Justice help shape and always defended and which pretty much tells them what their responsibilities are and there is no need to take on additional ones.
Maybe then they will stop their carefree spending ways and concentrate on why we sent them to Washington in the first place which was to do the bidding of “We the People.” Once again, you and the other Founders have proven that you are far more knowledgeable than any of us could have imagined.
Sincerely,
Andrew DeMarco
Pen Pals from the Past 