WND Exclusive - The Income Tax - A Brief History

by: Brent Smith

As we are knee-deep in tax season, I thought it might be useful to explain why Americans aren’t rioting over the size of the ever-ballooning national debt and yearly budget deficit – how Washington is taxing and spending us into oblivion and yet we just don’t seem to care.

One of the reasons is surely that many Americans don’t feel they have skin in the game.

Sure, during each election cycle, when a pollster calls, we tell him or her it is one of our top priorities. Consistently, in virtually every national poll, among the top 10 concerns of voters in 2020 were taxes, spending, debt and deficits.

But in the real world, it must not bother most of us as much as we claim. I explained, years ago, that this odd juxtaposition is due almost entirely to income tax withholding – that we don’t miss what we never receive. It’s aptly called reduced taxpayer awareness...