Recently Rush Limbaugh, and now his echoes, Hannity, Ingraham, Beck, etc. have all taken up this mantra that Congress taxing the AIG bonuses is somehow “unconstitutional”.
Now I understand how such a mistake can happen, given the fact that Rush doesn’t know the difference between the Preamble to the Constitution and the Preamble to the Declaration of Independence, but honestly folks the Constitution is a pretty straight forward document, and it pretty clearly spells out what Congress can and cannot do, particularly with regards to taxes.
Article I, Section 8 states: “The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defense and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;”
Exactly how is it unconstitutional for the United States Congress to levy a tax on the bonus money given to executives at AIG when Article I, Section 8 makes it pretty clear that Congress has the “power to lay and collect taxes”? Answer is, “it’s not unconstitutional”. But wait, that’s not all.
The 16th Amendment states: “The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.”
DOH! “The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived”? Gee, that sounds like Congress can tax the living daylights out of not only these bonuses, but from whatever income it likes. Again it would appear that Congress has all the “constitutional” authority it needs to tax the AIG bonuses. Maybe Limbaugh and company should occasionally read the Constitution and then they’d know what is and what is not unconstitutional.
The Liberty Tree 