Starving Leviathan: Federal Tax Escrow Accounts

The federal government relies on plunder, mainly in the form of income taxes, to feed it’s overreaching tentacles and this is perfectly Constitutional as set forth in Article I, Section 8, Clause 1 along with the Sixteenth Amendment. These do not however specify how these taxes are to be collected and currently the Internal Revenue Service is charged with this task.

But what if the states had the ability to take control of the purse strings and starve the beast back to it’s enumerated powers? We the people, through our state legislatures would have the ability to affirm what we believe the role and oversight of the federal government should be in our daily lives through a Federal Tax Escrow Account.

By this method, the federal government would still retain it’s enumerated power to tax but it would be up to the individual states to collect and further the money along. The premise is simple, the state’s legislature would determine what parts of the federal budget it considers Constitutional and would forward that percentage along. The remainder of the taxes collected would then be used to fund programs currently funded by the federal government with whatever remains left over returned to the people.

Through this form of state interposition, the several states would reestablish their sovereignty, put a stop to out of control federal spending and prevent Leviathan from creating unconstitutional mandates such as the ones found in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as ObamaCare.

We would rapidly find that without its ability to tax and spend recklessly and with little regard for the will of the people, Leviathan would starve and unconstitutional agencies would soon cease to exist. We would also put an end to federal intervention in the affairs of other nations along with the debasement of our currency.

The takeaway would be a smaller, more streamlined federal government that would return to its Constitutional roots and govern as the founders sought it to govern. It would be up to the individual states to take care of its citizens, as it should be, and while this is not a perfect solution, we the people would gain more control as we have a greater say in what happens in our state legislatures as opposed to what happens in DC.

A few states, Washington, Georgia, Ohio and Oklahoma, have bravely taken up this fight. We need to pressure the legislators in our own states to join the battle to retain our sovereign rights and put an end to Leviathan.