QMX Royal

Raleigh NC CPA

W. Marc Gilfillan, CPA, NC, individual and business CPA and Tax expert, shares about the history of taxes…

“Slavery – the one cause of the Civil War.” – John Stuart Mill, 1862

Could there be a doubtful thoughts concerning this topic? Certainly the American Civil War was about slavery… was it not? Well actually, one of the greatest popular myths in American history is that the Civil War began because of the slavery issue and that Lincoln, the Great Emancipator, fueled a terrible struggle to break the chains of bonding that enslaved over three million black Americans. Just prior to the war, the South had everything its way.

In 1860, Southerners controlled the Supreme Court and Lincoln and Congress were beginning the process of passing a constitutional amendment to keep slavery for all time! So what happened?

We should rewind the clock back to the year 1832. By that year the national debt left from the War of 1812 had been extinguished and the South saw no need to keep up the exorbitant import taxes that seemed to only raise prices for Southern consumers. Either the South paid high import taxes on imported goods or it purchased Northern manufactured goods at excessive prices. In either case, Southern funds transferred to the North. To say the South was not content with this arrangement would be an understatement. If you’re feeling the pressure with today’s taxes, call a CPA for Tax Preparation in Raleigh, NC for all your tax-related needs!

So, in 1832 a convention was hosted in South Carolina to get rid of these federal import taxes. The South decided the tax was unconstitutional and authorized the governor to resist the enforcement of these taxes instituted by the federal government. It looked like a civil war was in the works. Cool heads won over, however, and the Great Compromise of 1833 lowered import taxes over the subsequent several years to levels the South would tolerate. Go here if you want help with a modern-day Tax Return in Raleigh, NC.

Over the ensuing years, however, Northern corporate and manufacturer companies bullied into Congress more taxes that once again stressed Southern planters and allowed Northern Manufacturers to become rich once again. In 1850, John C. Calhoun, the South’s greatest exceptional spokesman, delivered a speech to Congress. His speech spoke of three grievances of the South that may cause secession from the Union and war. The first two had to do with fears concerning the gradual decline of power of the South in general and the states in particular.

The third, and only solid grievance, concerned tax policy. In Calhoun’s eyes, national import taxes was a class legislation against the South. Heavy taxes on the South raised money that was spent in the North. The focus of economic life in the United States was steadily changing heavily to the North. Calhoun threatened secession if the taxes weren’t lowered. But what of the slavery issue? Well, during his run for the presidency in 1860, Lincoln steadily repeated he would not do anything about slavery in the South. Actually, most Northerners didn’t really care about enslaved blacks, just as little as how much they cared about the Indian in the West or impoverished uneducated workers in factories. By and large many black slaves got better treatment and more compassion than their working-class counterparts in the North. Lincoln, actually, told Southern slave-owners that fugitive slaves would be caught. The Congress and subsequently the Supreme Court (Dred Scott decision) further affirmed that slavery was here to stay.

But, just as Lincoln was placed in office and Congress assembled in 1861, they created more high import tariffs. Slavery was not the issue – higher import taxes were. In his inaugural address Lincoln stated he would go get the customs in the South even if there happened to be a secession!

Fort Sumter, near the beginning of the Charleston Harbor, began filling with Union soldiers to support the collection of the new taxes. The Civil War started in 1861 when South Carolinians shot at the federal garrison at Fort Sumter. The conflict had been stewing for years – but it was not over slavery. It was over tax policy.

Two years later, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, and then only following repeated military battles, as a last resort to rally the North behind a noble cause. With respect to the slave issue – most Northerners didn’t care much concerning black people in bondage, any more than they thought about Native-Americans to the west and the poor uneducated peasants in the factories. Ironically, many black slaves received better treatment and more compassion than their impoverished counterparts in the North.

That’s it for the History of Taxes Series!

http://www.marccpa.com/