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SALT Deduction Is Unconstitutional

CONGRESS’ POWERS AND OBLIGATIONS RE: SALT DEDUCTION

POWERS

In 1936, our Supreme Court succinctly and elegantly answered the question of powers in our government: “The question is not what power the Federal Government ought to have but what powers, in fact, have been given by the people. It hardly seems necessary to reiterate that ours is a dual form of government; that in every state there are two governments, — the state and the United States. Each State has all governmental powers save such as the people, by their Constitution, have conferred upon the United States, denied to the States, or reserved to themselves. The federal union is a government of delegated powers. It has only such as are expressly conferred upon it and such as are reasonable to be implied from those granted. In this respect, we differ radically from nations where all legislative power, without restriction or limitation, is vested in a parliament or other legislative body subject to no restrictions except the discretion of its members.” (United States v. Butler, 297 US 1, 63 – Supreme Court 1936.) The legislative powers are set forth in Art. I of our U.S. Constitution.

OBLIGATIONS

OATH

Senators and Representatives are bound by oath or affirmation “… to support this Constitution ….” (U.S. Const., art. VI.) Thereby, each of them is bound to serve to provide for the General Welfare of the nation, not local welfare. (U.S. Const., art. I, sec. 8, cl. 1.)

GENERAL WELFARE

Relationship of the Power to Tax and the General Welfare:

It is essential to understand and respect the relationship between the power to tax and the general welfare: “[Mr. Justice] Story says that if the tax be not proposed for the common defence or general welfare, but for other objects wholly extraneous, it would be wholly indefensible upon constitutional principles.[17] And he makes it clear that the powers of taxation and appropriation extend only to matters of national, as distinguished from local welfare.” (Butler, id., at p. 67.) (Underline emphasis added.) That distinguishment makes clear that the SALT Deduction is unconstitutional.

The Salt Deduction Does Not Provide for the General Welfare:

As noted above, each Senator and Representative is bound to support the U.S. Constitution, and, thereby, are bound to support the general welfare over local welfare (Butler, ibid.). Yet, they are often seen advocating for their “constituencies” as to the SALT Deduction, overlooking their overarching obligation to support the general welfare of the nation. The U.S. Constitution as interpreted by Butler, ibid., very clearly distinguishes local welfare from the general welfare, Congress must act accordingly and eliminate the SALT Deduction.

OBLIGATION TO INFORM THE PUBLIC

Clarification of the obligation: “The public is, of course, entitled to be informed concerning the workings of its government.” (Watkins v. United States (1957) 354 US 178, 182 and 200, respectively.) Historically, Congress has failed this obligation, e.g., “Obama Care.”

Today, the public is ill-served by Senators and Representatives who, based upon vacuous criticism that is unsupported by facts, obstruct the legislative process by openly and aggressively resisting to legislate. Such conduct does not “inform” the public about the “workings of its government.” It actually impedes the workings of government.

Please do your jobs and get to work for the public.

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