Taxation is Theft, and Theft Cannot Be “Reformed”
Posted by Alex R. Knight III on Jul 10, 2010 in Commentary • 7 commentsRyan Ellis of Americans for Tax Reform recently outlined an outrageous — if somewhat predictable — reality that will begin on January 1, 2011: A host of existing federal tax rates will increase, and a myriad of brand new Obamacare related taxes will also go into effect. In summation, it will be the largest tax increase in American history.
Just to cite a few examples, the lowest taxpaying wage earners will pay five percent more than they do now. Those inheriting estates worth over one million dollars will pay a crushing 55% tax. Capital gains taxes will go up another five percent, and dividends taxation will more than double from 15% to almost a whopping 40%. Any and all charitable contributions from IRAs will be banned outright.
How did any of this usury get started? The typical statist answer, of course, is to blame Obama and the leftist Democrats for heavy government spending and jamming socialism down everyone’s throat — as if Republicans had nothing to do with any of these tax hikes. And for that matter, then, where have Republicans ever made a serious effort to rescind and repeal these taxes and abolish the IRS? A few, like Ron Paul, have introduced bills to do just that, but those that even made it out of some preposterous conference committee only received a laughable handful of votes.
The real reason this institutionalized slavery exists is fundamentally inherent to the nature of governments themselves. All of them. Democracies, dictatorships, republics, you name it. In order to exist in the first place, governments must steal the earnings of others by force (or by the very real threat of it) in order to finance all the police, guards, soldiers and other agents of the State who work for it. It must also, in addition to providing loot and weapons to its employees in order to insure loyalty, convince them — at least to a certain degree — that what they are doing and defending is both noble and necessary. That without such enforcers as themselves, the world as they know it will descend into butchery, rioting, bloodshed, and chaos. As if governments themselves are not both directly and indirectly responsible for inciting such behaviors on a far greater and more destructive scale than any other groups of individuals.
Markets, which are voluntary and peaceful mechanisms, produce prosperity and hence, peace. Governments only plunder and destroy. They produce precisely nothing — except tyranny and misery. They exist, contrary to popular mythology, only to consolidate their power and continue to exploit and enslave the non-political class. That is their only true purpose.
As 2011 approaches, might it not be wise to consider that the impending further plunder and extortion that will begin in January is both wholly unnecessary, and in fact, nothing short of evil? It cannot be “reformed” by any voting, or calling for the politicians and bureaucrats to change. It can only be ended outright. And that happens when no one, out of a sense of personal honor and decency, wants to work for government anymore. I never have, have never wanted to, and never will. Before governments steal any more of your life, property, and liberty, won’t you join me?
C4SS News Analyst Alex R. Knight III is an author of horror, science fiction, and fantasy tales, living and writing in rural southern Vermont. He is the author of Victoria's Place and Other Tales of Terror (BareBones Publishing, 2008), and numerous other works, including non-fiction and poetry. He is also a regular contributor to the libertarian journal Strike The Root.
[...] by Alex R. Knight, III, C4SS [...]
[...] Taxation is Theft Posted on 12th July 2010 by Mike Powers http://c4ss.org/content/3167 [...]
[...] Taxation is Theft Submitted by Mike Powers on Mon, 2010-07-12 03:00 in Taxes http://c4ss.org/content/3167 [...]
"Those inheriting estates worth over one million dollars will pay a crushing 55% tax."
It is crushing in numbers; the thinking on the part of the authorities is those people can well afford to lose that amount of money. It may therefore not be crushing in truth, not in the way that the privileged will feel it. The grades of taxation are not our concern here. Our concern is the forcible taking of property. If anything, the fact that the rich are taxed more than the poor shows that the criminal authorities still have an ounce of sense in them. Also at issue is the way they have come by estates worth more than one million. In this
As for the necessity of government, you could also have noted that governments are human creations, that they therefore cannot be necessary to human life. Else there would not have been any government to speak of. Humanity having lived – presumably in chaos – without governments for millions of years, you would think we could not have survived for such a long period of time in such a terrible state, and yet we did. At best, governments could make life better, and we can readily see that they don't.
*In this controlled economy, owners of million-dollars estates are potentially not legitimate.
“And [government can only be ended outright] when no one, out of a sense of personal honor and decency, wants to work for government anymore. I never have, have never wanted to, and never will. Before governments steal any more of your life, property, and liberty, won’t you join me?”
Decreasing the numbers of government enforcers is the first step, since politicians and bureaucrats will not themselves “steal the earnings of others by force (or by the very real threat of it) in order to finance all the police, guards, soldiers and other agents of the State who work for it”. The enforcers are the key!
So in addition to not being an enforcer or any other type government employee, Kevin, I suggest that you uge your readers not to voluntarily associate with government enforcers who refuse to get a non-government (and productive) job when the reasons are clearly presented. For an anti-statist to not be a government employee one’s self is just the beginning (and “a must” to be philosophically consistent). Strong negative Social Preferencing – withdrawal or refusal of voluntary association with the reasons made public – towards government enforcers who continue in that role after attempts to logically persuade them of their errors (offers of assistance in obtaining new productive jobs is a good idea for those known personally), is the next step. Public identification (photos, names and location) of these continuing government enforcers will enable others to also Socially Preference against them, thereby increasing the social pressure to change their employment, their major interaction behavior. This selective (discriminating) association to exclude those who cause harm is a potentially very powerful method of non-violent action, referred to as ostracism by many down through the ages. It is included in Gene Sharp’s 2nd volume (of 3), “The Politics of Nonviolent Action”, Chapter 4, “The Methods of Social Noncooperation”.
Even in the current very unfree societies (of which the US is a major one), negative Social Preferencing can be effectively used to influence individual social behavior and the actions of the State. http://selfsip.org/focus/protestsnotenough.html
It goes without saying that the sooner large numbers of people make negative Social Preferencing part of their own behavior (together with positive Social Preferencing towards non-government related individuals who do provide value), the sooner the number of government enforcers will noticeably decline. And in the process, it is very likely that self-responsibility will achieve the role in human actions that is necessary for a truly liberatous society (in contrast to “libertarian” that has multiple incomplete and/or self-contradictory descriptions and “principles”).
[...] by Alex R. Knight, III, C4SS [...]