KFL%MX.LCS.MIT.EDU@MC.LCS.MIT.EDU (10/30/86)
From: Hank.Walker@unh.cs.cmu.edu
I do not understand all this talk about income taxes and whether
they are constitutional. ... income taxes are allowed by the
Constitution, and there is no need to puzzle over the meaning of
the 5th and 13th amendments.
Yes, there is an amendment specifically allowing a federal income
tax. In that sense taxes are legal and not unconstitutional.
What if a new amendment were added that said that it's ok to kill
Christians? Would that be unconstitutional? No. Would that be
legal? Yes. Would it be RIGHT? No. Would it be meaningful to
discuss whether or not it violated the intent of the previous version
of the constitution? I think so.
That is what I am doing. I'm sorry I didn't express myself well. I
didn't mean to imply that part of the constitution could be
unconstitutional. If it was added to the constitution of the time by
a mechanism allowed by the constitution of the time, then it is
constitutional. Nevertheless, it may be said to contradict the intent
of the previous constitution. And I think that it does. And my
discussion of the 5th and 13th amendments was an attempt to explain
why.
...Keith
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