I have yet to find an argument against the fact that taxation is theft that is not fallacious in nature. Can anyone present an adequate rebuttal that is is not laced with fallacy and/or euphemism. Common examples:
You can leave
If you moved into a neighborhood and the Mafia forced you to pay ‘protection money’, would it not really be extortion simply because the Mafia gave you the option to move away? This goes into a bigger question of who actually owns land in this country (its all government owned, you pay rent, but you call it property tax).
It’s not theft because you receive goods/services.
If a mugger robs you at gunpoint and buys you a sandwich, does that mean the original transaction wasn’t a robbery? The point is, no matter what happens after the initial robbery - it cannot reverse the fact that a robbery took place.
You can argue that taxation is necessary, but you cannot argue that taxation is not theft.
The only reason we can live in relative safety and with opportunity to pursue a life other than hunting/foraging/scrounging just to survive a very dangerous environment is because of civilization and by that logic, government.
Humans lived short, harsh lives in hunter/gatherer bands until civilization emerged. Governments require funds to function, and the logical way to raise those funds that is fair to all is through taxes.
The system has its flaws, but the fact you get to shitpost on the internet is because of government, which is funded by taxes.
Civilization is not equal to government. Government is the ‘ruling body’ the group of people with the supposed ‘right to rule.’
It does not include everyone in society. Government is a subset of society. it is made up of those agents who are employed by the state.
Taxation and government ‘services’ are simply put involuntary trade. one party demands money, the other surrenders is or faces violence. I think people are just brainwashed into viewing government as being above morality, or giving government moral exceptions to commit theft, murder, and various other rights violations
Income tax, I would agree because it’s a direct tax not based on your use of the utilities. As far as taxes like consumption tax, I don’t see it at theft, so long as it’s going to fund infrastructure that we all use. The line I draw is that if I get direct use of the taxes, it’s not theft. IF, however, my taxes are going to benefit another directly without me having the opportunity to use those services, then it’s certainly taxation.
Just an example:
We fund a road from Cypress to Houston with taxes. Not theft because it’s a resource I can use.
We fund the rent of someone based on income… theft. I get no benefit.
Worse, they’ve convinced a large portion of the last couple of generations that it’s the gov’ts money by right, not ours and that they should be willing to give whatever portion the gov’t requires without bitching in exchange for freebies.
In the UK our government will give the EU as a example 30 million pounds towards healthcare and than the EU give us 20 million pounds towards a new wing hospital and people say how generous the EU are and how without them we wouldn’t have this new hospital wing that always cracks me up
If one is a big government politician then there is nothing more you want than the majority of the population to be poor and ignorant and not believe in rugged individualism. You will then have a loyal group of reliable voters who are comfortable living in poverty and are simply grateful for crumbs dished out by a wealthy ruling class.
