By Phil Roberts, May 2026
When early income tax laws were passed, the Congress saw publicity of who was paying and what amounts as part of the enforcement mechanism for what was essentially a voluntary system with little resources given over to investigate tax cheating, etc. Often, at tax time (in mid-March in those days), local newspapers would publish lists of taxpayers and the amounts they paid in taxes. Not only would you learn what the President paid in taxes, but you could find out what your neighbor down the street paid in taxes. Those were the days when people could be shamed into doing the right thing. If there’s anything the current president has proven, shame doesn’t work anymore…probably never did with hard-core tax cheats like him. An element of publicity contributed to questionable prosecutions of war protesters and labor organizers during World War I. More about it here under “Sedition Act in Wyoming.”
“The “shame factor” was once used to gain registrants for military service. It was called doing your patriotic duty. Draft-dodgers weren’t admired in those days–any more than tax cheats. Quite a difference from now. The attitudes in Wyoming during World War I are nicely summarized in the heading of a file kept by the U. S. Attorney of men being charged with dodging service. It was simply: “Aliens and Slackers”–the aliens being German-Americans who disregarded any need to sign up for the draft, with proud contempt for the U. S., and admiration for German autocrats. The slackers were those who defied the law, denying any duty of service and letting others carry the weight of service. I guess we finally have a president hailing from that strain in American history–a draft-dodging tax cheat who makes fun of war heroes while pardoning war criminals and adoring foreign autocrats. Hard to see anything to admire there, at least as I see it–but then I’m probably just old-fashioned.