Taxes, History and Fashion
You may think the following has nothing to do with fashion, but it does. It affects every US citizen. I wanted to write this on PromDressShop.com so the younger generation (you) can perhaps do something about it because my generation has failed. This is the subject that made us Americans. You see our relatives left Europe because they were ticked off at King George and having to pay him taxes. Our ancestors fought for freedom. The freedom of not having to be taxed. George Washington was quoted saying, "They have no right to put their hands in my pocket!" He is probably flipping over in his grave knowing that everything he fought against and dedicated his life to was all for nothing. US citizens are 'one of' it if not 'the highest taxed people' in the world today.
Believe me; I am not going to bore you with history. The only thing I got out of my history class was noticing what people were wearing in the past. I remember when we were learning about the civil war the only thing I could think about was how cool the soldier uniforms were (navy with gold buttons). Who was the designer of those uniforms? It was in my history class that my nickname "Dancer" (I was Captain of our Danceline), changed to "Grandma". Why Grandma? I brought my embroidery to class so that I wouldn't fall asleep when the teacher was lecturing. Looking back, the teacher never once told me to put away my stitching. Perhaps this was the first clue that I would become a designer? You can still see my embroidery on many of my gowns (see below).Did you know that the US had no taxes until 1913? We were a tax-free country! Some countries are still tax-free (Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Anguilla, etc). After the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the US was tax-free for 137 years! For two years we were taxed a civil war income tax but in 1894, the Supreme Court ruled this tax unconstitutional.
What does this have to do with fashion? Everything! US Designers work hard for their dollars. They have 28 to 50% of their paycheck taken away from them at the end of the day for income tax. Then we have property tax, sales tax, etc. What is the incentive to work? The people who don't work in this country live off the middle class and high income earners by participating in welfare. Wages go up so that people can support themselves which forces companies like mine to take their business overseas. Hence, this causes a lack of jobs which causes more poor people. For instance, a dress that I can have made in China for $100 would cost me $1200 in the USA. Not many prom girls want to spend over $2000+ on a prom dress. Why from $1200 to $2000+? Don't forget you need to take wholesale mark-ups for storage costs, salaries, taxes, advertising and promotion of the dress, etc., then you need to take another retail mark-up for the stores who carry that dress for their advertising, salaries, etc. Everyone involved in the process from making to selling this dress needs to get paid. So this $1200 ends up being 2 to 3 times that amount after all the expenses are calculated. I'm sure you would agree, you would rather have the same dress for under $300 than pay $2000+ for the same dress - even if it was made in the US vs. China.
Don’t get me wrong, I love my country. I'm a true American. I've traveled all over the world for my job (China for my factories, Paris for fashion week, Italy for fabrics, etc.) and I still wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. We have it good in the USA. I'd just like to see the US go back to its roots. The reason for why we became a great nation in the first place. Teens today set the roots for the future of this country; perhaps you can make a difference. Bring business back to the US - eliminate taxes.
FASHION INFLUENCE: History has influenced my designs. I was studying dresses from the 1800's when I came up with the dress shown below. I modernized it by adding floral embroidery (thank you history class for letting my practice my embroidery). Can you see the 1800's influence? Corset lace up front. Let's not forget our past, we can bring it back.
Believe me; I am not going to bore you with history. The only thing I got out of my history class was noticing what people were wearing in the past. I remember when we were learning about the civil war the only thing I could think about was how cool the soldier uniforms were (navy with gold buttons). Who was the designer of those uniforms? It was in my history class that my nickname "Dancer" (I was Captain of our Danceline), changed to "Grandma". Why Grandma? I brought my embroidery to class so that I wouldn't fall asleep when the teacher was lecturing. Looking back, the teacher never once told me to put away my stitching. Perhaps this was the first clue that I would become a designer? You can still see my embroidery on many of my gowns (see below).Did you know that the US had no taxes until 1913? We were a tax-free country! Some countries are still tax-free (Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Anguilla, etc). After the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the US was tax-free for 137 years! For two years we were taxed a civil war income tax but in 1894, the Supreme Court ruled this tax unconstitutional.
What does this have to do with fashion? Everything! US Designers work hard for their dollars. They have 28 to 50% of their paycheck taken away from them at the end of the day for income tax. Then we have property tax, sales tax, etc. What is the incentive to work? The people who don't work in this country live off the middle class and high income earners by participating in welfare. Wages go up so that people can support themselves which forces companies like mine to take their business overseas. Hence, this causes a lack of jobs which causes more poor people. For instance, a dress that I can have made in China for $100 would cost me $1200 in the USA. Not many prom girls want to spend over $2000+ on a prom dress. Why from $1200 to $2000+? Don't forget you need to take wholesale mark-ups for storage costs, salaries, taxes, advertising and promotion of the dress, etc., then you need to take another retail mark-up for the stores who carry that dress for their advertising, salaries, etc. Everyone involved in the process from making to selling this dress needs to get paid. So this $1200 ends up being 2 to 3 times that amount after all the expenses are calculated. I'm sure you would agree, you would rather have the same dress for under $300 than pay $2000+ for the same dress - even if it was made in the US vs. China.
Don’t get me wrong, I love my country. I'm a true American. I've traveled all over the world for my job (China for my factories, Paris for fashion week, Italy for fabrics, etc.) and I still wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. We have it good in the USA. I'd just like to see the US go back to its roots. The reason for why we became a great nation in the first place. Teens today set the roots for the future of this country; perhaps you can make a difference. Bring business back to the US - eliminate taxes.
FASHION INFLUENCE: History has influenced my designs. I was studying dresses from the 1800's when I came up with the dress shown below. I modernized it by adding floral embroidery (thank you history class for letting my practice my embroidery). Can you see the 1800's influence? Corset lace up front. Let's not forget our past, we can bring it back.
Comments
That dress is so hott!!!
I would totally wear that for Homecoming next year! Or mayb even prom
Posted by: Araceli | October 10, 2007 08:24 PM
One of the most foundyest of the fathers was Alexander Hamilton. He makes a pretty convincing case in the Federalist Papers (Federalist 30-36) that the goals of Constitution necessarily require taxation. I won't cut and paste it all here... read them at your leisure. Hamilton was a big fan at the time of import duties and taxes on foreign goods. He also gave the liquor tax its start. Which led to the whiskey rebellion and the Shays' rebellion lead by Daniel Shays. So taxes have never been popular. But it was Washington that ultimately ok'd the use of force to put down those early tax protesters.
While the union is intended to be more perfect, I think we all agree it at times is a more imperfect. Again, the only point is that is the one we have all signed up to live under our more imperfect union, it is not mandatory. We have agreed to pay taxes or submit to the penalties of not doing so. Of course, I think taxes are far, far too high. The whole idea, to me, of paying a percentage of income is that when income rises for the general population, so can the government's revenue. What irks me is when we elect representatives who vote to also increase the percentage (and introduce new versions of taxes.) This is an insidious triple lever. I spend far too much time trying to figure out how both the government and I can get rid of taxes entirely. I have not come up with a solution. (However, I do give a lot of old clothes to goodwill – and [thanks to the new IRS rules] I write down every item with its condition and value.)
My goal would be to set the tax percentage and then force government to live within that budget. For example, the city should not increase the percentage of our property taxes because someone was a bad negotiator 20 years ago. The amount of property tax we pay should only go up because land in this area is worth more.
I am for the estate tax, by the way. I think there would be no better time to pay taxes than after I am dead. However, an increase in the estate tax should be offset by a decrease or elimination of the income tax or reduction or elimination of the property tax... or sales tax... or gas tax... or public utility tax... or liquor tax... or hotel motel tax... my god, please do not think I think we should increase taxes. Nevertheless, the argument for some level of tax is compelling.
Posted by: Dan | October 14, 2007 09:36 PM
I absolutely love that dress. It's been my favorite dress here since I first discovered Prom Dress Shop a couple of years ago. I really want that dress, if only it had sleeves. :-(
Posted by: Michelle | October 21, 2007 04:36 AM
I love that dress too. It's absolutely beautiful. I agree, I want one with sleeves too. ;-)
Posted by: Rick | October 30, 2007 10:11 AM
Yeah, I'm seeing a pattern here, hardly any dresses have sleeves anymore, but a lot of girls want dresses with sleeves. Go figure.
Posted by: Aimee | January 11, 2008 09:34 AM
OMG, funny your talking about taxes, my brother just sent me this video, and says that people are waking up to the fact that the whole tax system here is acually illegal. They have no right to tax people at all! I guess there is a lot of info on this out there. We HAVE to change this insanity.
Posted by: Ria Haverline | January 14, 2008 08:04 AM