Concerning The General Power Of Taxation By Alexander Hamilton

The American founding fathers, during the development of the new American Constitution, discussed about many problems, including taxation, also known as “the ways and means”. The federal revenues became a really common topic to concern about, as a matter of the fact, both Federalists and Anti-Federalists tried to express their opinions about it. In general, the federalists support the general power of taxation that the Central Government was granted in the proposed Constitution. This position was argued especially by Alexander Hamilton in the Federalist Paper number 30 “Concerning the General Power of Taxation” in the New York Packet: December 28, 1787. On the other hand, the anti federalists thinks that the federal authority has not the right
But according to Hamilton, most times the States refuse to do that, so in this way the Congress can not be useful for the commonwealth and solve the possible problems for it. Regarding this, he made a lifelike example in his essay: he illustrates a probable bad situation in which the government, during a national crisis, is not able to get sufficient funds to defend the nation. In this way, Hamilton underlines the fact that states refused to contribute funds to the national government: “Thus circumstanced, a war breaks out. What would be the probable conduct of the government in such an emergency? Taught by experience that proper dependence could not be placed on the success of requisitions, unable by its own authority to lay hold of fresh resources, and urged by considerations of national danger, would it not be driven to the expedient of diverting the funds already appropriated from their proper objects to the defense of the State?” He also said that one of the possible solutions is to ask for loans but his question is “...who would lend to a government that prefaced its overtures for borrowing by an act which demonstrated that no reliance could be placed on the steadiness of its measures for paying? In his opinion, if the national government cannot raise revenues, then the national government will have problems because it has not enough funds, and no one
They do not want that the government has the legal power to impose high tax and to make the people spend all their time working just to try to pay all the taxes. In this case, Patrick Henry calls the federal sheriffs “unfeeling bloodsuckers” because as he sees it, they will “ suck you blood by speculations, commissions and fees”. This actually makes the people feel