Taxes and Entitlements

Bottom line: Taxes are stealing. I said this to a member of the left the other day and his eyes went wide. But it's true. If you're walking down a dark alley and a bunch of guys jump out with guns and say "Give us your money or we'll shoot you." Most people would call it theft. If a powerful corporation demanded money from you or they'd take action against you to get it, most people would call that extortion. Both are attempts to avoid the negative consequences of not handing over the money.

So when the tax man shows up demanding money or he'll throw you in jail, what is it called?

I don't care if the government GAVE themselves this power or not. Governments give themselves all kinds of crazy powers all the time. (The Nazis gave themselves the power to kill innocent human beings - did that make it right?)

I expect the answer from this guy to be a redefinition of the word "steal". He'll probably come up with some moral contraption that would bypass the idea of taxes being theft. I.E - he'll give himself an out.

But the root is still there. I'm not giving anyone this money (and I'll bet a lot of my fellow citizens aren't either.) It's being forcefully collected. Without the threat of fines and jail time, I wouldn't pay taxes at all. So the threat is what is prompting me (just like the threat of being shot by thugs in an alley.) The "theft" part is still there even if it's being done by a government agent.

The other thing he'd probably do is tell me all the good things that will be done with that money (like that justifies anything.) We'll give it to poor people and schools. We'll rebuild this and do a humanitarian act on that.

This doesn't change the fact that you stole it. Aren't these the people who say "The ends don't justify the means"? Apparently, it does if it benefits them directly.

I'm amazed at people. They attempt to justify their chicanery by restating the end result. But if you notice, there is always a thread of self interest involved. These ends would always include them: for example Universal Healthcare. They seem to think that they're just entitled to this. Not that this demand makes them greedy. (Real greed is the people who won't just lay down and give them their god given stuff.)

Lastly, the excuse he'd use is probably an attack on "the rich" (notice how he cleverly leaves out the definition of "the rich". I make 3 k a year as a student, everyone is "rich" compared to me including him since he's a full time University employee.) He'd probably launch in to how the rich "have enough". The same people who demand that no one ever should be judged on the basis of superficial characteristics WILL judge people on the basis of class. The rich are always born into it (or lottery winners) who just got lucky. The poor are always down trodden and held back by the rich.

Still: this doesn't justify oppressive tax laws either. If "the people" want something then "the people" should come up with a way of getting. Looting and pillaging class minorities in the United States should not be one of those options.

The real story of Robin Hood was a fight against taxes. The "Rich" in that story were aristocrats and the king (the government institutions of the time.) He robbed from these people and gave it to the peasants who were being taxed into oblivion.

The American Revolution was a fight primarily over taxes. Can anyone imagine Al Gore, The Clintons, John Kerry, John Edwards or any other Democrats in leadership positions standing up and saying "I think we're paying too much in taxes."?

Welcome to FR, I like your nick(WOD right?), anyways I just have a couple of contentions with your post(other than you being a noob and posting a vanity). <<>> We gave the govt the power to tax with the 16th amendment, and you really cant compare it to Nazism and killing people.

2 posted on 10/18/2005 9:15:25 PM PDT by aft_lizard (This space waiting for a post election epiphany it now is: Question Everything)

Welcome! It does my heart good to see the next generation has and/or is getting the message! Call your post a vanity or anything else, I was afraid that the conservative message wasn't getting through. I deal with high school children all the time and they have been so brainwashed by their liberal "parents", I wasn't sure how my future would end up. Thanks for the up-lifting message and hopeful outlook.

3 posted on 10/19/2005 5:15:48 AM PDT by Denny0205 (Life is tough; it's even tougher if you are stupid.)

Good post!

Several years ago I saw Barnie Sanders, the Vermont socialist, on a talk show. When one of the participants asked him why it was ok for Barnie to tax him to death, Barnie snarled at him, "Because I was elected."

The other guy shot back at him, "So If I walk over right now and take your wallet all by myself, that's stealing, but if I can get a big enough gang behind me, that makes it ok?

I thought Barnie's head was going to explode.

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