There is no doubt that taxation in this age and nation has become a great and tyrannous evil. This is a note about how it has been made so easy for them to do it to us, and how simply it could be undone.

On glorious tax day, yesterday, the Libertarian Party (I have no affiliation) posted a great graphic showing the before and after of federal income taxes in this country after 100 years—1913 and 2013. The contrast is staggering.

While this graphic is great and helpful, it doesn’t relate one of the most important parts of the story that occurred along the way, and one which may present a key to undoing the scheme: withholding. This is where the government began to require your employer to withhold income taxes directly from every paycheck. Gary North writes it up well:

The withholding tax program makes it easier for governments to collect taxes. The system was invented by Rockefeller agent Beardsley Ruml. When, in 1942, he came up with a plan to sell Congress on the idea of income tax withholding, he understood exactly what this would do for revenues actually collected: multiply them.

Here was the government’s problem in 1942: only about five million out of the 34 million Americans subject to the income tax were saving to pay it on March 15, 1943. This presented a big problem for tax collectors, now that wartime taxes had been hiked dramatically. Ruml, formerly the director of the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Foundation, in 1942 was chairman of the New York Federal Reserve Bank. He was also the treasurer of R. H. Macy & Co., the department store. As Macy’s treasurer, he well understood that most people resist saving for known expenditures. He asked: Why not get employers to deduct their employees’ income tax liabilities? He recommended this to Congress in 1942, and Congress in 1943 passed a tax collection bill that included Ruml’s withholding provision: the Current Tax Payment Act.

The Treasury Department went to work defending this program. It used staff economist Milton Friedman to do much of the research.

Did the scheme work? Beyond the politicians’ wildest expectations. In 1942, the U.S. government collected $3.2 billion from income taxes. It 1943, before the law was fully operational, it collected $6.5 billion from income taxes. In 1944, it collected $20 billion. (“.)

The withholding tax was passed as a wartime measure. Naturally, it was not repealed in 1945.

The withholding tax system is popular with the Federal government for four reasons. First, the government deliberately over-withholds. This forces taxpayers to file their forms to get their refunds. They must identify where they live. Second, it creates a “free money from the government” emotional response when the refund check arrives. Third, the government gets to use this money, interest-free, during the taxable year. Fourth, it makes income taxes and Social Security taxes less painful and therefore more acceptable.

If we were able to get that one war-time measure returned to the pre-war status quo, it would be one huge step toward recovering freedom in taxation and many other areas that depend upon that revenue. It would be amazing to see a Ted Cruz or Rand Paul, or anyone, introduce such a measure and stand seriously for it. Sadly, concern over the income tax as a whole only appears to be seen with the Libertarian Party—and by that I am not endorsing it, only observing. Can you imagine such a chart being circulated by the Republican Party (don’t even ask about the Democrats)? Can you imagine an actual plan of action to undo the scheme?

North suggests it would take only two things to bring down the system: abolish withholding and move the filing deadline to the Monday right before each Election Day in November. I don’t even think you would have to move the deadline—though the thought of annoyed voters going to polls immediately after writing a fat check to the government is entertaining.

Here’s North’s take:

If withholding were abolished, the decline in revenues would be both immediate, permanent, and spectacular. Then, on the second Monday of November, there would be desperation across the land. Hardly anyone would have saved all of the money owed during the year. Where would they get the money to pay? They wouldn’t. So, many would not file. There would be no way that the Internal Revenue Service could follow up on all the non-filing residents.

As soon as the taxpayers realized that there are too many people to convict, they would understand the enormous power they possess. Congress could do nothing. It would have to cut taxes to such a degree that people will set aside money to pay. It would have to issue high-interest tax prepayment bonds.

This would be the closest things to a real tea party we’ve had since the original. It would be even bigger and better since our own “taxation with representation” taxes are so much higher than they ever were back then.

In Restoring America, I outline my views on taxation in general, and have discussed the issue further in later articles, here and here.