On Taxation and the Very Nature of Coercive Collectivist Government
Taxation On Business Should Be Ended. Businesses don’t really pay taxes. Does that sound like an outrageous statement? It’s absolutely true. If a business is staying in business, they aren’t paying taxes, the people buying their goods and services are paying them. The entire cost of taxing businesses just gets passed on to their customers and they still have to make a profit to survive.
Despite the rants of marxists like Ted Kennedy ( “From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.” ) about “those evil corporations and the dirty rich” who should pay their “fair share”, businesses don’t actually pay a thing, it gets passed on to the consumer in the form of higher prices on everything we buy, a nice hidden tax that they don’t have to have noticed by most people, like the hideous income tax is.
Have you ever seen a shopping center that was just sitting there unrented, despite a decent economy, being run down and running down the economy of the whole neighborhood it was in? Chances are that it was bought merely as a tax write-off by a corporation ( a group of people ) that was being taxed in a predatory manner by the government, “because they had a lot of money”, as Ted Kennedy would see it. So they buy up a shopping center and don’t rent it, it just sits there to help shelter their business from the predation of the government, running down the neighborhood in the process. It’s not the fault of the owners, they’re just trying to keep the burglar from stealing their money.
I’m trying to start a small business of my own now, and though I was aware of these things before, it’s a real eye opener now. I had to obtain tax licenses from both the state and city to even be allowed to do business legally. A business or tax “license” is permission from the government to do business on their turf , and don’t let that analogy to a mob of thugs escape you.
When I get that “license” and start a business, governments all over the country, not just my state or local government, want to force me to become tax collectors for them.
The city government just told me that I have to file a monthly tax report with them, whether I sell anything or not, and if I fail, they can fine me over $550 each month for it. The state does the same.
Then we have:
Article 1, Section 9 of the Constitution of the United States, part of which says:
5 No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any State.
I was told by a supplier in California, who will drop ship goods to my customers, that I’ll be having to collect California sales taxes for sales in that state now, even though I’m in Colorado, because the factory is shipping directly to my customers in California for me. And that’s not all. They said that, as I gradually do business, I should expect other states to be contacting me about collecting sales taxes for them too, just for selling and shipping goods to their states! So it appears that I’ll be forced to spend my time and money working as a tax collector, which I already abhor as a libertarian.
I consider taxes to be a form of slavery and involuntary servitude, to begin with, and the people that are forced to pay them to be “tax slaves” or “tax victims”. A lot of coercive collectivists laugh at me when they hear that and scoff at the very idea, but what else would you call it when someone forces you to work for them at gunpoint, upon threat of prison or death, and you’re not allowed to refuse?
Slavery, after all, doesn’t require chains and physically beating people. It can be “kinder gentler” slavery. Many slaves in past times were not chained and beaten but they were forced, upon penalty of punishment or death, to spend their lives working for others. And make no mistake about it, that’s exactly what the government does to us, for a percentage of your every working year.
Don’t think it’s really slavery? Think about this. If you refuse to pay taxes, the government can send armed men to your door to collect them. They can sieze everything you own, to pay for them. Your money, your property, everything but the clothes on your back, and they only leave them because they’re not worth much and it would embarrass them to have people walking around naked in the streets on the TV news because the government actually took the clothes off their back. Oh, and because public nudity is illegal too.
If you refuse those armed men when they show up, they can arrest and imprison you ( if they haven’t anyway ) and if you resist that, they can even kill you on the spot. Send in the SWAT team! They refused to pay their taxes! They’re waving a copy of the Constitution! They’re considered armed and dangerous!
So yes, you are very much a tax slave, whether you agree with that concept or not. Whether you’re a willing slave or an unwilling one, a happy slave, a miserable one, or just an apathetic one.
Amendment XIII.
1 Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. 2 Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
But of course that was partially repealed by the 16th Amendment, which I’ve heard was never properly passed or ratified by the people:
Amendment XVI.
The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.
But never mind, our current governments consider the Constitution to be mere fiction, that was writted by dead white guys hundreds of years ago and is obsolete, merely to be ignored now at their every whim.
Some figures say that the average person in this country now works about 40% of their work year as a tax slave. But I think it’s actually more, when you consider the enormous tax burden that has to be passed along to them though every level of business, for virtually every good or service that they buy. Businesses have to become tax collectors for the governments, they have to build that tax burden into everything you buy, and they have to hire departments full of tax accountants to fill out the millions of tons of dictated annual paperwork required for them, which gets passed on to all of us too.
I remember reading in the paper years ago that some famous economist was saying that it would be bad for the economy and job creation, for the average annual tax burden per person to exceed 25%. Now it’s at least 40% and I’m guessing that with all the hidden slavery that’s passed on to you, it may even be averaging 50%.
Of course Americans consider themselves “lucky”. In some european socialists countries it’s more like 75% and people won’t work more than 30 hours a week because it all gets taken in taxes anyway. And of course in communist countries like Cuba, it’s; “Give us your paycheck and we’ll “redistribute the wealth” and give you back what we think you need”.
The very essence of all this slavery is the very concept that most people are indoctrinated from birth to hold most dear. Democracy. A better term for it is coercive collectivism, and unless it’s replaced by a libertarian system ( fat chance of that ever happening ), it will always be a form of slavery.
“A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine.” – Thomas Jefferson
Democracy is “might makes right” or “the mob makes right”. Democracy in our coercive collectivist system is essentially forming a mob and forcing everyone else to supply your every real or imagined need, and obey your every most frivolous whim. In ancient times, they knew full well that democracy wasn’t freedom, it was pure mob rule, the strong ruling the weak.
I like to laugh at gays and lesbians who appeal to mob rule for their rights, and hope that they can only enlist enough votes to change things in their favor. It ain’t gonna happen boys and girls. Why? Because you’re a tiny minority and this is mob rule coercive collectivism. The majority rules, and they don’t want you to be legally allowed to marry. End of story. When you live by the mob, you suffer by the mob, at the whims and pleasures of the mob. You may even die by the mob. If they wish to oppress you, or keep you oppressed, they will. If the mob wants to send you to a gulag, a concentration camp or even to a firing squad or the gas chambers and ovens, they will.
I also laugh when President Bush says that he wants to bring “democracy and freedom” to the mideast. What an oxymoron that is. They are opposites. More democracy ( coercive collectivist mob rule ) equals less freedom, and vice versa. But it makes great political speeches and indoctrination to use them both synonymously like that.
“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can exist only until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse ( gifts ) from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. – Alexander Fraser Tytler (later Lord Alexander Fraser Woodhouslee), in “The Decline and Fall of the Athenian Republic,” published 1776.
Does it sound familiar? Our government now feels the need to provide for literally every need in the world. A hurricane strikes the U.S., the government must respond instantly and effectively or politicians will lose their jobs over it. A tsunami or earthquake strikes somewhere else in the world? Why we simply must respond with an aid package and help them rebuild.
A dictatorship makes war on us? Sure we can defend ourselves but we must rebuild their country afterwards too.
Why? Because the U.S. is rich and successful. “From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.”
When this country started out, it was closer to being libertarian government than a democracy. The overall yearly average tax burden was around 2%.
But nowdays with the advent of modern instant polling, the politicians can know exactly what it takes to get elected and poll-driven populism has taken over. What’s that? Why pure mob rule democracy, just what Jefferson feared. This is exactly why the Constitution, including the Bill of Rights, is being ignored in so many ways now, and discarded as inconvenient fiction.
Since phasing over from being a liberal democrat before the 1990’s, to being a non-initiation of force principled libertarian now, I’ve been seriously connecting the dots.
“We have allowed our constitutional republic to deteriorate into a virtually unchecked direct democracy. Today’s political process is nothing more than a street fight between various groups seeking to vote themselves other people’s money. Individual voters tend to support the candidate that promises them the most federal loot in whatever form, rather than the candidate who will uphold the rule of law.” – Rep. Ron Paul
Coercive collectivists claim that I’m being hyperbolic when I accuse them of marxism, but read this:
“The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism, but under the name of liberalism they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program until one day America will be a socialist nation without ever knowing how it happened.” – Norman Thomas, Socialist Party presidential candidate 1936-1968, co-founder of the American Civil Liberties Union
“We can’t expect the American people to jump from Capitalism to Communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving them small doses of Socialism UNTIL they awaken one day to find they HAVE COMMUNISM.” – Nikita Kruschev, 1959.
“There is no such thing as a liberal…There hasn’t been for a long, long time. I never use the word and you shouldn’t either – nobody should. ‘Liberal’ is what socialists call themselves when they don’t want you to understand that they plan to take away your rights, your property, and eventually your life.” – Alexander Hope
“For it is very clear that in fundamental theory socialism and democracy are almost if not quite the one and the same. – Woodrow Wilson
“From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.” ( Who said it? Ted Kennedy, Jessie Jackson, Al Sharpton, Diane Feinstein, Chuck Schumer or Karl Marx? It could have been any of them, right? )
“There is no difference between communism and socialism, except in the means of achieving the same ultimate end: communism proposes to enslave men by force, socialism – by vote. It is merely the difference between murder and suicide.” – Ayn Rand, from “Foreign Policy Drains U.S. of Main Weapons”.
“For it is very clear that in fundamental theory socialism and democracy are almost if not quite the one and the same.” – Woodrow Wilson
“From each according to his ability , to each according to his needs.” Who said it? Ted Kennedy, Al Sharpton, Chuck Schumer,âÂ?¦ or Karl Marx? It was actually Karl Marx but we’d be hard put to tell the difference.
“We must stop thinking of the individual and start thinking about what is best for society.” – Hillary Clinton, 1993
“We’re going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good.” – Hillary Clinton
“At a time when our entire country is banding together and facing down individualism, the Patriots set a wonderful example, showing us all what is possible when we work together, believe in each other, and sacrifice for the greater good.” – Ted Kennedy
Sound familiar? It goes right back to Marx, Karl not Groucho.
So if you really spend some time thinking about all this, we can greatly simplify the political world by dividing it into essentially varying degrees within two political spectral areas, coercive collectivist and libertarian. Libertarianism is the only political philosophy in the world that has an objective defining principle. That’s the non-initiation of force principle, which I consider “the litmus test of liberty and morality” ( see my article about that ).
The people in the coercive collectivist part of the spectrum have a subjective defining principle, though they rarely admit it. “From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs”.
Whether they’re left or right wing coercive collectivists, that’s their only political defining principle, they just express it in differing ways, based on who they wish to elevate or oppress.
I was disgusted today, to hear President Bush holding a news conference with Tony Blair and saying that the U.S. will be giving American tax slave money to rebuild Lebanon. The lebanese people allowed, many even encouraged, Hezbollah to build tens of thousands of rockets into their very homes, towns and cities and eventually start firing them at Israel. But somehow the rest of the world, that so hates America for our success, thinks that we owe them all a living too, at the tax slaves expense of course. A single mother with two children in Denver will be having involuntary payroll deductions now, to rebuild the homes and cities of those people in lebanon who allowed Hezbollah to build tens of thousands of rockets into them, and some of whom even cheered them on when they started firing them against Israel. And the perpetrators are being made out by the news media to be the victims. Absolutely disgusting.
“From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.”
Yes, even the Republicans, who used to represent small government, have seen the writing on the wall. Advocating small government and sane fiscal policy with low taxation ( less slavery ) doesn’t get them elected. The people want pure populist poll-driven democracy, and a perpetual field day of government gifts. So even the Republicans have phased over into being big government “moderates” or “centrists”. “Neocons”. That explains why the federal budget has increased so enormously during the Bush administration. They’re handing out those gifts from the public treasury for everything they can possibly imagine, every perceived “need” ( Katrina ) and every frivolous whim. In effect they’re buying votes, the good old fashioned way, by bestowing gifts upon the democratic voters.
We’re now living in the age where government must be everything to all of the people all of the time, where it must protect us from every possible danger and fulfill our every imaginable need and whim.
And according to the words of Tytler, we can see where this is all headed, to an eventual collapse followed by a dictatorship. Read “Atlas Shrugged”, “We The Living” and “Anthem” by Ayn Rand for the probable sequence of events in this gradual devolution into a political and social abyss.
“At first, man was enslaved by the gods. But he broke their chains. Then he was enslaved by the kings. But he broke their chains. He was enslaved by his birth, by his kin, by his race. But he broke their chains. He declared to all his brothers that a man has rights which neither god nor king nor other men can take away from him, no matter what their number, for his is the right of man, and there is no right on earth above this right. And he stood on the threshold of the freedom for which the blood of the centuries behind him had been spilled.
But then he gave up all he had won, and fell lower than his savage beginning.
What brought it to pass? What disaster took their reason away from men? What whip lashed them to their knees in shame and submission? The worship of the word “We.”” – Ayn Rand, from “Anthem”.
If any of this even makes a dent on the various coercive collectivists who may read it, the question that some of the more rational ones among them may ask is; So what’s the solution? How can this be stopped and the eventual collapse be prevented?
Mark my words, there’s only one way, and it’s called libertarian government, or voluntary government. It’s the only way to break the whole cycle, but people would have to wake from their slumber and demand it.
Libertarian government. A government that would eliminate slavery. Here’s my plan for the way it would work:
Being the power to tax is the power to enslave and oppress, you’d need to phase out coercive collectivism and replace it with voluntary government: Only the amount of government that the people would willingly support, and that wasn’t allowed to initiate force.
Before you scoff at the idea and start saying that no one would support it, think about it some.
“Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the forms of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question.” – Thomas Jefferson
Everything the government currently does, which people wouldn’t support it doing, all the waste and pork would be gone, leaving maybe 5% of the budget the government has now, which would only be used for the essentials that people would willingly support. Therefore they’d likely have more funding for the things the people really wanted the government doing for them ( without being allowed to initiate force ), without all the waste and oppression of human rights that government is involved in now.
How would it be done? Some of the coercive collectivists think Uncle Sam would have to stand on a corner holding a hat out for donations, but that’s absurd hyperbole.
It could be done similarly to how government is supported now, only voluntarily. People could make a flat “suggested donation” based on their income level, at work, through payroll deductions just like they do now, or they could make a suggested donation at the store when they buy things. Or they might even go on their computers and itemize certain percentages of their payroll donations for certain things, like defense, police, fire departments or roads. They could even support social safety nets and welfare projects if they wanted to, but it would be voluntary.
It would eliminate some things, like all the waste, pork and largesse that government is involved in now, probably 90% of what it does nowdays. Would people voluntarily support wine tasting committees? Building a $500,000,000 shopping city to increase a city’s tax base? ( An example is Belmar in Lakewood, CO ) Or would they let the free market do such things, if the demand was there?
People would be truly free ( not just pretty words in speeches by politicians ), instead of being enslaved to support every frivolous whim and imagined “need” that some scumbag politician might dream up, like everyone is now.
And the marxist motto, “from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.” would be eliminated, as people would no longer be forced into slavery to pay for every imagined “need” or whim that anyone else could dream up and ask the Big Brother nanny state to provide for them.
The voluntary government plan above would be perfect because people would only get the amount of government they’d voluntarily support, thereby eliminating all pork and whims.
Any amount of government that people won’t willingly support, doesn’t deserve to exist.
That’s the cold hard fact of it, and exactly why real libertarians are such a small percentage of the population and I don’t think we’ll ever see libertarian government. Instead you’ll probably have to expect that devolution into chaos and dictatorship, which we can see happening now. The handwriting is on the wall.
