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Health & Fitness

Government and the "Right" to Tax

I was recently at a fundraiser for City Councilman Bill Linehan, when I asked him about the state of the city’s budget (increased yet again, unanimously, for FY14).

Among other things, I asked specifically about what moral ground does he, and the rest of the City Council, have to continue to extract more and more taxes from citizens each year?

I asked this seemingly pointed question because, at its very core, taxation is theft.

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The answer I received was the start of, “Because government is authorized to tax…”

Admittedly, I interrupted him at that point to reemphasize that it was still theft, even if “authorized” by the State. No matter what the money is eventually spent on, it was still taken through coercion – which is a violation of all of our natural rights to property.

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If any normal citizen attempted to extract money from another through coercion, it would be defined exactly as such. However, because these actions are perpetrated under the guise of “taxes” and "State power", somehow the thieves feel they are justified in their actions.

I realize this is not the typical view. More often, the view of “I pay mine, so should you!” prevails.

However, that misses the point. We don’t “pay”. We are stolen from. Furthermore, why would one person that is being aggressed upon wish the same upon others? Shouldn’t we all work towards stopping the aggression?

This election season, ask those among us that would like to participate in this scheme a simple question: “If I make $1.00 through my own peaceful labor, how much of it will you let me keep?”

Any answer that is less than the entire dollar is theft – no matter how they attempt to “justify” it.

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