Taxation Without Representation

Let me tell you how it will be

There's one for you, nineteen for me

Cos I'm the taxman, yeah, I'm the taxman

Should five per cent appear too small

Be thankful I don't take it all

Cos I'm the taxman, yeah I'm the taxman

If you drive a car, I'll tax the street

If you try to sit, I'll tax your seat

If you get too cold I'll tax the heat

If you take a walk, I'll tax your feet

~Taxman
The Beatles

When you think of important dates in American History, March 22 probably does not come to mind. However, March 22, 1765, was a pivotal date. It's the date when the English Parliament passed the Stamp Act. No, the Stamp Act was not about postage stamps. The Stamp Act required that stamps be purchased and placed on all legal documents and printed materials in the American colonies. This included ship's papers, licenses, wills, deeds, newspapers, other publications, and even playing cards and dice (?).

Some of the revenue would be used to maintain regiments of British soldiers in the the Appalachian area, where there was concern of skirmishes with Native Americans. The Stamp Act also provided that violators of the Act could be tried and convicted without juries in the vice-admiralty courts.

The colonists, however, had not braved cramped boats, stale food and rough seas to incur additional taxes and lose rights. What's more, they had already been hit with the Sugar Act of 1764, which levied duties on imports of textiles, wines, coffee and sugar; the Currency Act of 1764, which caused a decline in the value of the paper money used by colonists; and the Quartering Act of 1765, which required colonists to provide food and lodging to British troops. 

Although the Stamp Act really didn't cost a lot, it was the principal of the thing, and the standard it seemed to set. Previous taxes and duties on colonial trade had been seen as measures to regulate commerce, but the Stamp Act was viewed as a direct attempt by England to raise money in the colonies without the approval of the colonial legislatures. The colonists were concerned that this tax, if not challenged, could lead to more onerous taxes in the future.

For more information about the colonists' view of the Stamp Tax vs. the British view, see The Stamp Act Controversy.

The Stamp Act motivated colonists to take action. The phrase "taxation without representation" was uttered. There were protests and street violence. And, the Massachusetts Assembly invited the legislatures of other colonies to a congress in New York to "consult together on the present circumstances of the colonies." 

See how another colony perceived the Stamp Act -- A Summary of the 1765 Stamp Act -- Colonial Williamsburg.

In October of that year, delegates from nine of the 13 colonies met in New York to discuss a unified colonial response to the Stamp Act. This "Stamp Act Congress" was significant because it was the first unified meeting of the American colonies to respond to British colonial policies. 

The Stamp Act Congress drafted a "Declaration of Rights and Grievances," which stated, among other things that (1) only the colonial assemblies had a right to tax the colonies; (2) trial by jury was a right, and the use of Admiralty Courts was abusive; (3) colonists possessed all the rights of Englishmen; and (4) without voting rights, Parliament could not represent the colonists.

For quick facts on the Stamp Act Congress, see Stamp Act Congress (1765).

The Stamp Act was short-lived. The effect of the Stamp Act was not. Although the British government repealed the tax the next year, the repeal was coupled with the Declaratory Act, a reaffirmation of its power to pass any laws over the colonists as it saw fit. Societies that were formed in opposition to the Stamp Act continued to meet in opposition to what they saw as abusive policies of the British empire. These societies played a large role in the Revolutionary War ten years later.

For a more comprehensive discussion of the Stamp Act, check out Stamp Act.

Now, 250 years later, we still question things that our government (federal, state or local) taxes:

Sin taxes: According to Merriam-Webster, a sin tax is a tax on substances or activities considered sinful or harmful (as tobacco, alcohol, or gambling). Recently, state and local governments have started looking for other "sins" to discourage through tax. See Nation's first soda tax is passed.

Tampon taxes: Sales taxes are typically applied to grocery items and other goods sold in retail stores. Often items that are a "medical necessity" are exempted from such tax. However, most states and local governments do not exempt feminine hygiene products, despite the fact that most women consider them a necessity. See The Tampon Tax Explained.

Other strange or unusual taxes: Until May 1, 2015, the State of Alabama charged a 10-cents-per-deck tax on playing cards. For this, and other strange or unusual taxes, see A Tax on Arrows? Nuttiest New Taxes. Fair warning, this article is from 2012, so some of the taxes (like the Alabama playing card tax), may no longer be effective.

Spring Forward, Fall Back

As I was walking down the street one day

A man came up to me and asked me what the time was that was on my watch, yeah

And I said

Does anybody really know what time it is

(I don't)

Does anybody really care

(care)

If so I can't imagine why

(about time)

We've all got time enough to cry

~Does Anyone Really Know What Time It Is?
Chicago

It's that time of the year. At 2 a.m. on Sunday morning, we set our clocks ahead to 3 a.m., and we lose an hour sleep. Most of us don't actually get up in the middle of the night to set the clock ahead, but it's probably safe to say that we all feel that missing hour. People will tell you that they look forward to the extra light in the evening, and it almost makes up for losing an hour of sleep. Almost. The next week is going to be rough. Check out these wellness tips for adjusting to Daylight Saving Time (DST), and see how technology is making it easier to stay on time.

Personally, I always liked the fall time change, but that might have something to do with the fact that my birthday is at the end of October, and, until 2007, I would sometimes get an extra hour of birthday.  

Most of us see DST as an annoyance. We complain, but mostly write it off as just a part of our hectic modern lives. We all know that DST is observed for the purpose of conserving energy, but how? If it's dark in the morning when you get up, you still need to turn on lights, right? 

In time of war.  DST was initially employed in 1916 (during World War I) by Germany. Other countries followed suit. The United States observed it for one year in 1918, but it was so unpopular that it was discontinued on a national level the next year. Municipalities and states, however, were free to establish their own DST. The cities of New York and Chicago were just two municipalities that continued to adjust their clocks twice a year. The lack of uniformity among local and state governments created a hodge-podge of different "time zones" in the years after the war ended.

During World War II, the United States again established a national DST. As before, it was an unpopular idea that was abandoned when the war ended.

Chaos and confusion.  After World War II, the different states and municipalities could once again create their own DSTs. In 1963, Time magazine described the system as "a chaos of clocks." By 1965, there were 23 different pairs of start and end dates in the state of Iowa alone. St. Paul, Minnesota, began DST two weeks before its adjacent neighbor, Minneapolis. Passengers on a 35-mile bus ride from Steubenville, Ohio, to Moundsville, West Virginia, passed through seven time zones.

Uniform Time Act. In 1966, DST was here to stay when the U.S. Congress passed legislation standardizing DST from the last Sunday in April to the last Sunday in October. States could still opt out of DST and stick with standard time throughout the year. Check out the text of the Act and additional historical information.

Remember when we went to school in the dark? I'm dating myself, of course, because in order to remember going to school in the dark, you would have had to be in school in 1974 and 1975. During the 1973 oil embargo by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), in an effort to conserve fuel Congress enacted a trial period of year-round DST, beginning January 6, 1974, and ending April 27, 1975.

The thought was that having increased daylight hours in the winter provided more time in the evening for recreation, reduced lighting and heating demands, reduced crime and reduced automobile accidents. Farmers and other people whose hours were set by the sun rather than by the clock objected because with later sunrises and sunsets, they were unable to arrive at work on time after morning activities or participate in evening activities. Another major concern was children leaving for school in the dark.

The Act was amended in October 1974 to return to standard time for the period beginning October 27, 1974, and ending February 23, 1975, when DST resumed. When the trial period ended in 1975, the country returned to observing summer DST. The Department of Transportation reported that the benefits of the year-round DST were "minimal," and the National Bureau of Standards (NSB) found no significant energy savings or differences in traffic fatalities. The NSB did note, however, statistically signicant evidence of increased fatalities among school-age children in the mornings during the test period, although there was no clear link to DST.

Recent changes. In 1986, DST was changed to start on the first Sunday in April. The ending was still the last Sunday in October.

Energy Policy Act of 2005. The last change to DST was part of a tax bill in 2005. President George W. Bush signed the bill into law, thus extending DST by four weeks. Starting in 2007, DST would start on the second Sunday in March (that would be this coming Sunday) and end on the first Sunday in November (thus giving an extra hour of daylight for Halloween trick-or-treating and ending the possibility of extra birthday time for me).

More information about DST is available in the article, 8 Things You May Not Know About Daylight Saving Time or Daylight Saving Time (Snopes).

Notes

1. Although you often hear it called "Daylight Savings Time," the word is, in fact, singular.
2. DST is in the summer, when you would be on Eastern Daylight Time (EDT), Central Daylight Time (CDT), Mountain Daylight Time (MDT) or Pacific Daylight Time (PDT). In the winter, it's standard time (abbreviated as EST, CST, MST and PST). This also means that, although you might prefer days with more evening light, winter time with its earlier nightfall, is actually the standard time.
3. Although there has been discussion of eliminating DST, there are currently no plans to do so. In order to abolish DST, the U.S. Congress must legislate the change.
4. DST was not created to aid farmers. In fact, farmers are generally against DST for the reasons mentioned above. See Why do we have Daylight Saving Time?
   
5. Benjamin Franklin is often credited with originating or "inventing" DST, but, in fact, he only proposed a change in sleep schedules, not changing time itself.
6. Most areas of the United States currently observe DST, with the exception of Arizona (except for the Navajo Nation, which does observe DST), Hawaii, and the territories of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. 

And just for fun: Five Myths About Daylight Saving Time and Test Your DST Knowledge.

My House Is Not Your House

And now you're back

From outer space

I just walked in to find you here
with that sad look upon your face

I should have changed that stupid lock

I should have made you leave your key

If I've known for just one second you'd be back to bother me

Go on now, go, walk out the door

Turn around now

You're not welcome anymore

~I Will Survive

Gloria Gaynor

Ben Franklin said, "Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days." What do you do about "guests" who overstay their welcome? A friend needs a place to stay for "a few days." You have a live-in employee. Your ex just needs to get on their feet. How can you say no to a person in need? You don't want to throw them out in the street!

A few days turns into a few weeks and then a few months, and now you don't see any indication that your "guest" is planning to leave. What do you do now? They say, "no good deed goes unpunished," and this is a prime example of that old adage. Your guest may not have their own room or their own set of keys to the house, but they use your address as their home address and they receive mail there. You no longer have a guest -- you have a housemate, and, if they won't leave, you must go to court and have them evicted. That hardly seems fair, does it?

Fair or not, that's the law. Call the police, and they'll tell you the same thing. Even though the person living in your house has never paid rent and there was never a lease, you are stuck with this no-longer-welcomed guest! They help themselves to food that you purchase. They invite their friends over when you're trying to sleep. They sleep during the day when you're awake. Or, they just occupy space.

You've tried talking to them. You've given them ultimatums. They've promised to find somewhere else to live. Still, you come home from work each day to find that they are still there. 

Think I'm being overly dramatic? Check out these two examples that made the news:

Example 1. The nanny who wouldn't leave. From the moment that Mary Poppins floated into theaters with her carpet bag and magical umbrella, nannies have occupied a special place in popular culture. There have been singing nannies (The Sound of Music), psychic nannies (The Nanny and the Professor), wise-cracking nannies (The Brady Bunch), male college student nannies (Charles in Charge), cosmetic-salesperson-turned-nanny nannies (The Nanny), fathers disguised as nannies (Mrs. Doubtfire), male Navy SEAL nannies (The Pacifier), magical nannies (Nanny McPhee), childish nannies (Uptown Girls), female college student nannies (The Nanny Diaries) and reality TV nannies (Supernanny). In none of those instances, however, did the nanny overstay his or her welcome like a nanny in California in the summer of 2014 (sometimes referred to as "the squatter nanny"). 

This started when a family posted an ad on Craigslist to find a live-in nanny to help the mother manage the house. Depending on who you believe, the nanny either quit doing the job she was hired to do (and was fired) or the family became unreasonably demanding (and the nanny quit). Even after employment terminated, the nanny continued to live in the house (in the room she had been given when she moved in). That's when the news media picked up the story:

Family Stumped by Fired Live-In Nanny Who Won't Leave

Nanny Finally Moves Out

To minimize the possibility of this and other "nightmare nanny" situations, check out 12 Tips for Hiring a Live-In Nanny .

Example 2. The socialite squatter. Perhaps not the stuff that whole programs can be based around (or at least not any on the "best" lists), but another plot device is the friend or acquaintance who moves in "until they can get on their feet," and then stays and stays until the hosts are ready to pull their hair out. This second example is that scenario. A New York socialite was hit by a car in 2014. She and her mother moved in with an acquaintance, claiming that their apartment was being renovated, and they stayed and stayed.

Socialite accused of squatting in actress' home

Socialite squatter finally booted from actress' Fifth Ave. co-op

These are just two extreme examples that made the news, but there are many other situations that don't make the news--an ex won't leave when the relationship is over, a child won't leave the nest or a friend needs a place to stay for a few days. 

If you've found yourself with an unwanted house guest, what can you do? First, try the direct approach--ask the guest to leave. If that doesn't work, however, you may have to go to court to have your house guest evicted. See How to Put a Friend or Relative out of Your House.

Good luck!