Letter: It’s time to repeal 16th Amendment

Wednesday, April 18, 2007 | 7:12 a.m.

Congress has both a legal and moral calling to repeal the 16th Amendment to the Constitution.

It is taxation without representation and is a horrid example of America's sexist and racist discriminatory past.

When the 16th Amendment was ratified in 1913, women and African-Americans had no voice in the political process of this nation.

Women did not have the right to vote in America until 1920 with the ratification of the 19th Amendment and African-Americans had no equitable voice in the political process until the Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965.

The 1910 Census indicates that women made up 48.6 percent of the total population and African-Americans made up 10.7 percent of the population.

These two groups that made up more than half of the total population of the United States had an income tax imposed on them by white males when they had no representation in the political process.

Wouldn't it be interesting if an organization like the American Civil Liberties Union challenged the 16th Amendment in our federal courts based on it being gender-biased, racist as well as being fundamentally unconstitutional because it is a perfect example of taxation without representation?

It would be very entertaining to watch our Supreme Court squirm to find a way around the arguments that would be presented.

Living in Las Vegas and enjoying an occasional sporting proposition, I would be willing to bet a couple of dollars that it would awaken Congress and expedite tax reform in America.

David Baker, Las Vegas