Among the numerous reasons given for Bill Clinton's intrusion into the American Airlines pilots' strike was that a prolonged work stoppage by the pilots would cause severe economic disruptions.

Imagine that: Bill Clinton doing something to help the economy flow smoothly! It was not as if he had any Constitutional authority to intervene in the manner that he did, or that there is a "keep things humming along" clause in the Preamble to the Constitution. He just intervened, and no one thought anything of it.

Actually, there is something the president can do to make American life really flow more smoothly for all of us. He can hasten the arrival of that day when millions of Americans are freed from the oppressive burden of the income tax. It is within his constitutional authority. I'll explain more in just a bit here. First, however, let me explain just a few things about the income tax.

• In the absence of the income tax, Uncle Sam would still have plenty of revenue. Only about 38 percent of federal revenues are derived from the income tax. One only has to go back nine years, to 1988, to a time when the federal budget was 38 percent smaller than it is now. During this time, no necessary programs have been added.
• Politicians like to blame the size of the federal deficit on "revenue shortfalls", i.e. the government's failure to collect enough taxes. One of the most common statist myths about the 1980s is that cuts in marginal income tax rates slowed the growth of federal revenues. Actually, federal revenues more than doubled during this time, while federal spending almost tripled. Moreover, since 1982, this nation has withstood the four largest tax increases in its history, and we still have 12-digit federal deficits.
• I am not making this up: the federal income tax is voluntary. In her "Note From the Commissioner" in the 1994 federal income tax instructions, then IRS Commissioner Margaret Milner Richardson thanked us "for making this nation's tax system the most effective system of voluntary compliance in the world." If you want to find our just how "voluntary" the federal tax system is, just try to exercise your option of not paying just one time. In early 1993, liberals were fond of calling taxes "contributions". In fact, FICA, aka the Social Security tax, is the acronym for Federal InsuranceContributions Act. One no more "contributes" to the federal till than a convenience store clerk "contributes" to a robber. Perhaps we should stop calling ourselves taxpayers and start calling ourselves tax victims.
• Richardson also wrote in her note to tax victims, that her goal was for "each person (to pay) what he or she properly owes to support the vital functions of our government." Less than a quarter of federal outlays go for such programs as defense and the courts. Most of the remainder goes toward programs that have no constitutional mandate. Eliminating the income tax would spark unbelievable private sector prosperity. Such prosperity would do far more to, as the preamble to the Constitution states, "promote the general welfare," than the government ever could.
• How much better of would you, reader, be if you did not have to pay income tax? How much would your life change if you had that much more to spend, save, invest, or give away as you saw fit? Would you send your children to private school? Would you put away more toward your retirement? Would your spouse be able to quit his or her job to stay home and raise the family. Would you start your own business? Would you give more to your favorite church, synagogue, mosque, or charity? Would you put more away for certain eventualities like sudden illness or loss of a job? Would you move to a bigger house, or even be able to afford that first house? Would you take that dream vacation? Would you switch to that career you really want to pursue because, now, it pays better? What would you do? How much would this promote your general welfare? Think about it!

What, then, can the president do, within his constitutional power, to eliminate the income tax? He cannot singlehandedly pass laws or ratify amendments. He can, however, under Article II, Section 2, "grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States." He can, for example, pardon all non-violent tax offenders currently in federal prison.

Such was a cornerstone of the campaign Harry Browne, the 1996 Libertarian Party candidate for president. Browne explained that after just a few days of pardoning all inmates currently doing time for non-violent federal tax offenses, tax prosecutors would realize the futility of their efforts, and the Internal Revenue Code would cease to have any teeth. Browne believes that we can pay for the military and federal court system that we need with the revenue currently collected from tariffs and excise taxes.

Browne would have replaced the income tax with nothing. That's right. No flat tax. No consumption tax. Nothing.

One of candidate Clinton's 1992 campaign slogans was "Putting People First" For years, various oppressed groups have asserted their inherent humanity by reminding us that they are "people too" Perhaps representatives of America's largest oppressed group, tax victims, should stage a march on Washington to remind Bill Clinton that, "Taxpayers are people too!""

In the meantime, those of us who took the positive step of voting for Harry Browne last November should keep his constitutional lesson in mind, and be comforted that our votes for him were not in vain.

• Freely Speaking: Essays by Doug Newman
• The Tax Burden: Lift It, Don't Shift It!
• Taxpayers are People, Too!

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