Tourtured Foxx

Recently I was teaching a British-born friend of mine about Sanford & Son and it's enduring legacy. While he had never heard of the show he interestingly clued me into the possible origins of the sitcom with the British show Steptoe and Son. The Wikipedia entry for Sanford & Son confirmed this fact and it led me down memory lane and eventually to this YouTube video of Redd Foxx' final interview. From the article it seems like Redd's spirit and his will to live were already crushed by the IRS's heavy hand years before his heart-attack killed him.

These sad stories reinforce my belief that the economy and society in general would be better off if we abolish the IRS, the income tax and any sort of taxes on productivity and profits. Just imagine if everything you earned you kept, free and clear, there would be thousands of companies moving their factories or headquarters to the USA to take advantage of this sort of freedom. We wouldn't have to destroy an entire generation with this reckless deficit spending, nor the spirits of creative geniuses such as Redd Foxx in the process.