Richard Evelyn Byrd, Sr. Quote

"A hand from Washington will be stretched out and placed upon every man’s business; the eye of the Federal inspector will be in every man’s counting house. The law will of necessity have inquisitorial features, it will provide penalties. It will create a complicated machinery. Under it businessmen will be hauled into courts distant from their homes. Heavy fines imposed by distant and unfamiliar tribunals will constantly menace the taxpayer. An army of Federal inspectors, spies and detectives will descend upon the state. They will compel men of business to show their books and disclose the secrets of their affairs. They will dictate forms of bookkeeping. They will require statements and affidavits. On the one hand the inspector can blackmail the taxpayer and on the other, he can profit by selling his secret to his competitor."

by:	Richard Evelyn Byrd, Sr. (1860–1925) Lawyer, politician and newspaperman, Virginia Speaker of the House of Delegates (1908-1914)
Source:	Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates, 1910, predicting the consequences of a federal income tax
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Categories:	Taxation, Commerce, Government, Fascism, Socialism, IRS, Injustice
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He left out one more thing. The heavy hand of government can be used for extortion. A business can be attacked via the complex laws until they make the proper campaign donations.  -- J. Allen, Arlington, Va      1
And that only begins to expose the tip of the iceberg.  -- Mike, Norwalk      1
It is only a perverse people that resent law enforcement!  -- Waffler, Smith      2
Waffler, what on earth does your inane reply have to do with the quote? As to your 3rd grade comment, whether people are perverse depends on what law is being inforced. As one example, I resent a law that sends a person to jail for owning or growing hemp and I don't think that makes me a "perverse" person. I resent laws that require things from me but exempts the very people who pass these laws. I could go on but maybe even you, Waff, can get the point.  -- jim k, Austin,Tx      2
Hey Waffler - Do you have a degree in "Social Engineering?" - Just asking! :)  -- Mary - MI      1
What Byrd is attempting to say is pretty much: "This city is headed for a disaster of biblical proportions. ... Old Testament, Mr. Mayor, real wrath of God type stuff. Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling! Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes... The dead rising from the grave! Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria!" ... I'm sure Mike would agree too.  -- Anonymous, Reston, VA, US      1
Waffler if the law should dictate we are to be beheaded for parking violations we should willingly comply? And that it would be perverse not to? You really don't have a single drop of American blood in you, now do you Kamrade?  -- J Carlton, Calgary      2
Richard Byrd has touched on many valid aspects of a tyrannical tax regime. To believe that we can trust our well being to these parasites who are openly in the business of exploiting us for all they can...is "perverse". ;)  -- J Carlton, Calgary      1
Waffler...You are correct in that people should obey the law. But - an unjust law is no law at all. That is why the founders gave us jury nullification. Thats what Jefferson meant when he said that a jury should judge not only the suspected criminal but also the law he is accused of violating.  -- Publius      2
If I could only will Waffler back to Nazi Germany, perhaps he would reconsider his position...or perhaps he would fit right in with the Third Reich!  -- Rusty, Where the buffalo roam, USA      1
(-; the 'A' from Reston, thanks for the honorable mention ;-) Waffler, I'm not even sure what expletive to use here that would describe you. Law enforcement is an oxymoron. Can you enforce gravity, physics, fiscal law, etc.? Tyranny enforcement is the accurate term I think you were trying for; or maybe administration of justice; or maybe, it is only a perverse people that accept law enforcement. jim and Publius here explain the point.  -- Mike, Norwalk      1
How prescient Byrd was. It's almost as if he time-traveled to the present day and went back to 1910 to report his findings. This quote illustrates how regulatory power - instituted for the purported "good of the people" - in reality becomes corrupt and a noose around the neck of an economy. The unstated effect of every government policy is to restrict the legal choices of individuals and increase the power of the state. Let the Free Market decide who wins and loses in business by individuals deciding what products and services best suit their needs and their pocketbooks, not government!  -- Legalize Freedom, Sarasota      1
Indeed! Waffler got a great government education -- A plus. What he ignores is lawfulness. Where is 'law enforcement' for the Constitution? Shouldn't there be Congressional police that arrest representatives for not staying within their proper jurisdictions and for passing unlawful and unauthorized statutes that mask as 'law' but are in fact simply dictates of the ruling class? Liberty is paramount, limited only by the equal rights of every individual. For one of the most brilliant essays on law, read The Law, by Frederick Bastiat -- a must read.  -- E Archer, NYC      2
"A" Reston - like all liberals, you react to deeply thoughtful quotes with silly sound-bite comebacks that aren't even clever. Give it up. Silliness does not bestow a sense of humor on your grim personae.  -- rearden, Burr Ridge      1
Don't get too down on Waffler. He must be speaking of the anti-slavers in the early 1800s and the people who hid Anne Frank from the Nazis. You know he would have told the Nazis where Anne Frank was if he had been there. He would have been a good slaver and a good Nazi, just like he is a good fascist today.  -- JB, Jackson      1
The citation for this quote is for the wrong Richard E. Byrd. Richard E. Byrd Sr. was the Virginia Speaker of the House of Delegates, his son Richard E. Byrd Jr. was the naval Officer and Polar Explorer. You should correct both the citation text and the links to books.  -- Bob Jones, LA, CA
Waffler, I explain somewhat below that "law enforcement" is an oxymoron perpetrated on slave congregations under the occupying statist theocracy infesting this land. Only the most vile of despots and tyrants enforce compelled compliance, government licenses, victimless crimes, larceny with impunity (2nd plank of the communist manifesto, Social Security, police state confiscations, etc.), inalienable right(s) / perfected allodium / liberty / individual sovereignty / "laws of nature and of nature's God denial. Your here statement is a great example of what a perverse person would say.  -- Mike, Norwalk      2
Thank you, Bob, we fixed the citation a while back.  -- Editor, Liberty Quotes
Hmnnnn.... the only thing inappropriate about this quote from 1910 is at the end:  that the tax man will (or must??) be a blackmailer and profiteer, ignoring his duty and corrupting the law.  But, where does he get that?  Yes, anyone can be a cheat, but when jobs have bosses and instituted procedures, and when employees are hired for their honesty, that does not have to happen.  AND, I believe, our history of 110+ years of federal income tax will show that the massive abundance of tax workers are honest. Beyond that, there is nothing in that "threat" of his that is threatening.  It is simply a wordy (although exaggerated) description of how a tax-paying plan would be implemented. Nothing to see, here!  -- Dingley Dell, Boone, IA      1
Nothing to see here? (!!)  The IRS is used as a bludgeon against its political enemies.  The creation of the IRS was a requirement of the newly formed consortium of private banks, the Federal Reserve, to make interest payments while the US government was in bankruptcy, in order to usher in an interest-bearing fiat currency in exchange for all the gold money in the USA.  The US is still in receivership to the Fed, and the debt to the Fed with interest exceeds the entire money supply!  The whole IRS is a fraud perpetrated on the American people.  It's only purpose is to indenture a people permanently.  Gold is the only lawful money recognized by the US government, yet, we cannot use it for money.  Why? Do the math.  Through inflation (creating of money out of thin air), taxes, and interest payments throughout one's lifetime, you will come to the glaring realization that 90% of one's labors have been appropriated by the Fed.  The IRS is the collection agency.  This is servitude. Nothing to see here, folks.  -- E Archer, NYC

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