Posted on 09/20/2011 8:44:43 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
The above was in response to a column which argues that TAX HAVENS are IMMORAL.
Read the column here :
Income taxes are immoral.
RE: Income taxes are immoral.
How does government get its revenue to function then?
Yes, income taxes, and many other taxes are IMMORAL. So, tax havens are moral responses to an immoral situation/government.
According to Harry Reid income taxes are voluntary. Is it immoral not to volunteer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6q0slMhDw8
How did we manage until 1913?
There are not two equal sides to every question.
Separate sovereign nations are moral. Since they are sovereign, they often have different tax structures.
No long drawn out screed which seeks to sidestep or obscure this has any merit, nor does its author.
What HE said. Ditto.
Excise, import, consumption taxes - all would raise money to run the constitutional necessary functions of government, without giving the government the ability to manipulate society and pick winners and losers.
RE: Most taxes and fees are immoral
OK, let’s say they are... how does government get its revenue in order to function then?
WHAT SHOULD TAKE THE PLACE OF TAXES?
I know of a graduate student in MIT from Taiwan who inherited money back home BEFORE he came to America and has the inherited money deposited in a Taiwanese bank earning interest. Quite substantial amount too.
After getting his graduate degree, He worked for a Silicon Valley company after graduation and became a permanent resident two years ago ( a green card holder ). He pays taxes on his income from his salary here in the US.
He is now in a dilemma — because according to our tax code, he has to declare income FROM ALL SOURCES.
Is it immoral and criminal of him if he did not declare the interest income he gets from the money deposited in a bank account in Taiwan under his Chinese name? ( THAT WAS EARNED BY HIS PARENTS AND NEVER ENTERED THE US AT ALL ).
This is a very important question because MANY hard working LEGAL immigrants, who never depend on government largesse are asking themselves the same question.... many have money deposited back home BEFORE they came to the US. Does Uncle Sam have a moral claim to that money?
See: “Taxes for Revenue are Obsolete” by Beardsley Ruml
You forgot to provide the link :
http://hiwaay.net/~becraft/RUMLTAXES.html
And for the benefit of those who don’t know.... this article was published 65 years ago.
“How does government get its revenue to function then?”
How did they do it before the imposition of the income tax?
So ... you’re saying that it’s perfectly moral for these sovereign countries - the so-called tax havens - to have different tax structures from the US.
Glad we agree!
Other countries compete on taxes. In a perfect world the US would make its tax regime attractive enough to keep its taxpayers. But instead the tax code keeps getting more abstruse and more onerous, and the IRS are equipped with their own SWAT teams.
Way to go, land of the free.
Only problem is, the supreme courts of old saw “income taxes” AS excise taxes and the IRS still does today.
I didn’t actually forget, I find people get more out of learning when they are interested enough to actually track down the information once given a direction. And yes it is a very old article by then Fed Chairman, but still very relevant, as are numerous others.
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