Did you know that Income tax is a 'temporary measure?'

You can google this right now. In most (I want to say all but I haven't been able to research every country's tax law) western nations Income tax is by law only a temporary measure that was brought upon during times of war. Yes there is technically always war but the laws signed when income tax was initiated states that they were to expire AFTER that specific war ended.

Here are a few examples, and Ireland is in there too:

USA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revenue_Act_of_1861
What happened: Abe Lincoln imposed a 4% temporary income tax to fund the civil war. After the war ended the legislators convinced the public that in order to rebuild infrastructure and industrialize parts of the south to wean them off slavery they need to keep this tax for the next few years at least. They never stopped this temporary measure and instead increased it every year to an effective 20%-40% depending on the state.

UK: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_Tax_Act_1842
What happened: There was no real justification for this in terms of ideological appeal, unless you're a fan of British imperialism. By the time the Crimean war started it was pretty much set it stone. The UK had to fund its overseas imperialist interests, and by WW1 it was never going to disappear. It was 2.9%, which again went up and up every year to an effective 20-45%.

Canada: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_tax_in_Canada
What Happened: WW1 happened. Heres a direct paste from the Wiki page: Wartime expenses forced the Tories to re-consider their options and in 1918, the wartime government under Sir Robert Borden, imposed a "temporary" income tax to cover expenses. Despite the new tax the Canadian government ran up considerable debts during the war and were unable to forgo income tax revenue after the war ended. With the election of the Liberal government of Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, much of the National Policy was dismantled and income tax has remained in place ever since.

Ireland: http://www.budget.gov.ie/Budgets/2015/Documents/EY_Historical_Dev_International_Context_Irish_%20Corporation_Tax.pdf

What Happened: While still a subject of the crown, an income tax rate of 10% (Notice how its higher than the British tax, despite the nation being abjectly poor) was imposed in Ireland to fund the Napoleonic war. Read the tax of 1842 above for what happens after next. After WW1 Britain let go of its Imperialist ambitions, and in a stunning act Ireland adopts the British taxation system, despite effectively not having the need to recoup after a World War it did not participate in. As usual the tax rates inched every year by half a percent or so to where it is now, up to 40%.

What am I trying to say with all this information? Not much. I haven't researched every country but so far its been the exact same pattern: Justify taxation with a war, then rejustify keeping it to rebuild destroyed infrastructure CAUSED by the war, then increase it by half a percent every year that way it seems reasonable and not out of line. With every generation seeing an increase of 5-10% it doesnt seem too much to the average person. But the problem is the fiat system is inflationary by design - by decreasing the purchasing power of your money every year you are thus motivated to work and be productive to acquire more money, and to purchase assets to hedge against inflation. Taxes is how fiat controls inflation, which necessitates increasing it every year.

Mind you these taxes were imposed before the fiat system was codified. It might be worth noting that the fiat system, at least according to a few economists ( https://www.jstor.org/stable/41486019 ) exists to permanently intertwine taxes with all aspects of society from the smallest purchase of chocolate to travel, to marriage etc. This intertwining makes it possible to include everyone into a market economy and thus every bit of labor and productivity contributes to the macroeconomic structure of the nation.This way the entire population is participating, but the downside is this means income taxes are now irremovable without fundamentally dismantling society.

It is entirely possible that in a generation or so there will be income taxes in the range of 80-90%. It sounds insane now but try telling the average person from the 1850s that their temporary 4% income tax will be a permanent 40% in 2 generations. Its not that out of line. Its the same pattern.

In a related sense, I've also found out that “Nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program” – Milton Friedman.

Remember in the past 20 years what other 'Temporary Measures' have become permanent? In the wider world there is Homeland Security, Guantanamo Bay, Invasive Surveillance, War in the Middle East. These temporary measures became permanent because it allows the ruling class to effectively impose laws (in some cases break those laws) to increase effective policing, or continue to profit from various industries that are propped up by war.

I wonder what temporary measures right now will become permanent too?