Taxation Is Theft

I noticed my Twitter buddy Amanda Swafford promoting a new hashtag for tonight at 8 pm, "#TaxationIsTheft". I may not be up that late (I'm a notorious early bird), but I figured I would do my part promoting this.

Why is taxation theft? If you are a progressive idiot like Harry Reid, you might think taxes are voluntary:




However, according to the legal definition of "voluntary" over at Dictionary.com:

a. acting or done without compulsion or obligation.
b. done by intention, and not by accident:
voluntary manslaughter.
c. made without valuable consideration:
a voluntary settlement.

Unfortunately for progressives like Dingy Harry, the fact there is a legal penalty for failure to pay taxes, and that legal penalty is backed up by the lethal force which will be used upon your person for failure to pay taxes, the idea that taxes are voluntary is stupid.

To be honest, there is little difference between a mugger demanding your money at gunpoint, and the government demanding your money at gunpoint. Before you run off at the mouth about the government being "of the people, by the people, for the people", I will remind you that hasn't been true since Lincoln was in office (and possibly not even then). The TRUTH is that taxation is "from the people, by the politicians, for the politicians". (One could argue much of the government is that way, but we will stick to taxation for this post.)

Author James Bovard said it best: "Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner." This is why the Founding Fathers were averse to democratic governments. We are so proud of America's democracy, even as we watch it crumble and tear apart before our eyes. Isn't democracy wonderful, as we watch a fascist (Trump), a religious loon (Cruz), an opportunist (Kasich), a criminal (Clinton), and a socialist (Sanders), all fight to become president! If that doesn't make you understand why the Founding Fathers loathed democracies, nothing will.

But as our sideshow election rolls along, everyone forgets as their paychecks are neatly and quietly burgled by the politicians we elected. That is, until their taxes are due every year, and they get to see how much our government actually cost. And yet we keep electing the same politicians every year? Is it any wonder the quality of politicians has dropped so much, because we are all such idiots.

"Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard."--H.L. Mencken

Ironically, taxation isn't the only cost: Ever notice inflation? You know, when hot dog buns go from costing $1/pack to $1.25/pack over the course of a year or two? That is a 25% increase by itself. What happens when you see increases comparable to that across all the products you use? That happens for two possible reasons: One is an increase in the cost of a commodity, like wheat, due to a bad crop year, or demand increases beyond the supply. The second possible reason has nothing to do with economic supply and demand: When the government prints money instead of raising taxes, it makes money worth less, so producers have to charge more in order to make enough to cover their costs. Think of this as "backdoor taxation".

Keep this in mind: Whatever you pay in taxes is NOT the entire amount you are paying. When you see the cost of everything you use start to go up, that is the government hitting your wallet where you least expect it.

By the way, the next time you start to wonder why companies don't pay more in taxes, remember the adage, "Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it." Companies do NOT pay taxes. They pass along the cost for taxes to their customers. If the government somehow manages to get more money from the companies, YOU will be paying for it.

If you REALLY want to know how much you are being taxed each year, just look at how much the government is spending. The U.S. government spent about $3,650,000,000,000 in the last full budget year (which ended 9/30/2015). That is over $12,000 for every single person in the United States. Just remember, even if you didn't pay that much in taxes, it still cost you that much, with inflation and lost opportunities.

Lost opportunities? Of course, when companies pay taxes (or even pay for accounting staffs to dodge taxes, or leave money overseas instead of bringing it back here to only have the government confiscate it), that takes away money they could be using for hiring. When people pay taxes, that takes away money they could be investing in companies, who could then use it to hire people.

Before I forget, don't you forget what you paid last year into Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid. Those taxes are NOT progressive, and you don't get to deduct them. You just pay them, period. Maybe you will collect on those programs one day...maybe not. Good luck with that.

Here are a few more thoughts on taxation (hat tip to Wikiquote):

"Note, besides, that it is no more immoral to directly rob citizens than to slip indirect taxes into the price of goods that they cannot do without."--Albert Camus

"A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul."--George Bernard Shaw 

"Be thankful we're not getting all the government we're paying for."--Will Rogers

Finally, the following from Lysander Spooner:

"It is true that the theory of our Constitution is, that all taxes are paid voluntarily; that our government is a mutual insurance company, voluntarily entered into by the people with each other; that each man makes a free and purely voluntary contract with all others who are parties to the Constitution, to pay so much money for so much protection, the same as he does with any other insurance company; and that he is just as free not to be protected, and not to pay any tax, as he is to pay a tax, and be protected.

But this theory of our government is wholly different from the practical fact.  The fact is that the government, like a highwayman, says to a man: Your money, or your life.  And many, if not most, taxes are paid under the compulsion of that threat. 

The government does not, indeed, waylay a man in a lonely place, spring upon him from the road side, and, holding a pistol to his head, proceed to rifle his pockets.  But the robbery is none the less a robbery on that account; and it is far more dastardly and shameful. 

The highwayman takes solely upon himself the responsibility, danger, and crime of his own act.  He does not pretend that he has any rightful claim to your money, or that he intends to use it for your own benefit.  He does not pretend to be anything but a robber.   

He has not acquired impudence enough to profess to be merely a "protector," and that he takes men's money against their will, merely to enable him to "protect" those infatuated travellers, who feel perfectly able to protect themselves, or do not appreciate his peculiar system of protection.  He is too sensible a man to make such professions as these. 

 Furthermore, having taken your money, he leaves you, as you wish him to do.  He does not persist in following you on the road, against your will; assuming to be your rightful "sovereign," on account of the "protection" he affords you.  He does not keep "protecting" you, by commanding you to bow down and serve him; by requiring you to do this, and forbidding you to do that; by robbing you of more money as often as he finds it for his interest or pleasure to do so; and by branding you as a rebel, a traitor, and an enemy to your country, and shooting you down without mercy, if you dispute his authority, or resist his demands.  He is too much of a gentleman to be guilty of such impostures, and insults, and villainies as these.  In short, he does not, in addition to robbing you, attempt to make you either his dupe or his slave. 

The proceedings of those robbers and murderers, who call themselves "the government," are directly the opposite of these of the single highwayman. 

In the first place, they do not, like him, make themselves individually known; or, consequently, take upon themselves personally the responsibility of their acts.  On the contrary, they secretly (by secret ballot) designate some one of their number to commit the robbery in their behalf, while they keep themselves practically concealed."