I write concerning Celia Louderback’s Dec. 2 letter, “Justice denied in U.S. tax system” while chastising first-term representative Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Camas, as if Herrera Beutler were at fault for today’s tax code. She received 60 percent of the vote in 2012, up from 53 percent in 2010. That’s a significant improvement.
The oath taken by members of Congress is (in part) “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic” … nowhere does it talk about taxes.
One needs to consider the politics and political party responsible for the implementation of the 16th Amendment and the corresponding Revenue Act of 1913. We have gone from 400 pages (1914) to an estimated 74,608 (2012).
Herrera Beutler is but one of thousands of elected officials everywhere since 1913 who have influenced what you see right now.
