Feb 7, 2015 Posted by AGA Editor

Good Funding Evil? The price we pay for a civilized society.

“Taxes are the prices we pay for a civilized society.” That is what Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes has quoted to have said. But if being civilized means to co-exist peacefully interacting through voluntary means instead of by violence then taxation, one group of people forcibly depriving another of the fruits of their labor, is the exact opposite of being civilized.

To steal the money that someone has earned through voluntary means is to steal that person’s productivity, his time and his effort, to steal a part of his life. And to steal a part of someone’s life is called, “slavery.” Taxes are often characterized as the people simply paying for the services they receive from government but this is a gross mischaracterization. Its one thing to request that service, its another to have that service forced upon you under threats and duress.

Imagine getting a bill from a private business for services you never asked for and may not even have wanted and imagine that if you don’t pay whatever price the business decides they will wipe out your bank account, seize your assets and possibly put you in a jail. In any context, other than government of course, such behavior would of course be seen as immoral, unjust, and criminal. Yet we’re told that when the government does the same thing it is legitimate, moral and necessary for society.

There are two sides of the immorality of taxation. First, it deprives the productive people of a large part of the wealth they produce, stealing their buying power, reducing their ability to provide for themselves and their families and making them less able to support the things that they care about.

Second, it forces people to fund and support things which go against their wishes, that conflict with their own values and priorities, and that are contrary to their own interests. Government does not produce any wealth. Everything it spends it must first take from the productive people whether through open taxation or the hidden tax known as inflation.

As a result, it was always the productivity of law abiding taxpayers who foot the bill for tyranny. It was not Mao, Stalin, or Hitler who funded or manufactured the guns, tanks and bombs that terrorized and murdered so may millions. It was the good people of China, Russia, and Germany who felt obligated to hand over the fruits of their labor to those wearing the mantle of authority.

Likewise, all the government bureaucrats, the abuse of law enforcers, the corrupt politicians, their buildings, their vehicles, their computers, their utilities, their salaries, we are the ones paying for all of that. And perhaps most ironically when it comes to the IRS and all of their tax collectors we are the ones paying them to rob us.

Taxation is no different than a Mafia protection racket where a gang claims to be protecting you or that same gang threatens to hurt you if you don’t pay up. Yes, the gang may sometimes go after other thieves and aggressors. But if you don’t pay their protection fees you know that they are the ones who will be at your door next.

Think about that for a while.

Are you awake Yet?