Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
The Income Tax is a moral tragedy and should be illegal. The philosophical underpinnings of any tax on income necessarily assume that the state owns the people. When someone is owned by someone else we call it slavery. That is, when a private individual is owned by another private individual we call it slavery. What do we name it then when a private individual is owned by the state? Well if we utilize the word "owned" then we must declare that this too is slavery. What is most troublesome is that the vast majority of the people in the United States of America do not even realize that the government owns them. What is the slave to the slave owner? Why did the slave master of old own slaves? He owned them because he wanted their labor. This is the primary component of slavery. If the slave owner "owned" the slave but did not have a claim on or own his labor then the slave owner would be better off emancipating the slave and sending him away. He housed them and fed them and took care of them (usually only as well as he minimally had to) and in return he kept the fruits of their labor. What percentage of the slave's labor was "returned" to the slave in the form of housing, food, clothing, and other necessities I cannot say, but I can say that the slave was only taken care of because he was an asset to the slave owner- an asset which produced labor.
What are income taxes? Simply put, they are a claim on my labor by the government just like the slave owner had a claim on the labor of the slave. The government officials fight over how much of my labor, or income, they should keep. Rare is it indeed that a representative of the people even contemplates eliminating that most spurious of taxes. In fact, the vast majority of the so called "representatives of the people" constitutes in reality the representatives of the government instead- increasingly authoritarian minded and knee-deep in graft and cronyism. Now, if it is merely a question of how much of my labor the government wants, then I do not have a right to my labor at all. For a time maybe I will pay a third. Then later on in life taxes on income will eat up more, maybe half. Someday they may want 60 or 70 percent. The point is that it is not my decision. It is the government's decision. If they have a legal claim (as the law currently allows) on my labor then they have a claim on my person. I do not own my labor and therefore do not own myself. It can be reasonably argued that since I am allowed by the state to keep a percentage of my labor that my status is more akin to being a serf than an outright slave. Rightly so, but the underlying problem persists. The state has a claim on my labor. The only reason that we are not wallowing in poverty from this onus is that modern capitalism has increased the productivity of the average worker to what would have been unthinkable in pre-industrialized society. Productivity, the creation of beneficial products, is wealth. What once took the work of two or three men now takes one. As a result of this people are far wealthier and can surrender a portion of their labor without falling into poverty. But the underlying moral problem remains. I do not have a right to my labor.
Many people will say that if the state takes a third then the state owns one third of my workweek and I own two thirds. This is a fallacious argument. They simply allow me to keep the two thirds at their pleasure out of which I have the pleasure to pay my other taxes like sales tax and property tax. Since they control my income and the percentage I pay to them the state has the right to my labor and I do not have any right to my labor at all.
What then is to be done? We must fight to end all taxes on income. The 16th Amendment must be repealed and income tax must be declared a form of involuntary servitude. There can be no compromise on this matter for it is a moral issue like the right to believe as I might and say what is on my mind without the fear that the agents of the state will imprison me,harass me, or track me based solely on my beliefs or statements. Lastly, the advocates for omnipotent government must be deprived this great source of financial lifeblood from which they will fashion a future of fascism which will for a time abrogate the remainder of human dignity.
What are income taxes? Simply put, they are a claim on my labor by the government just like the slave owner had a claim on the labor of the slave. The government officials fight over how much of my labor, or income, they should keep. Rare is it indeed that a representative of the people even contemplates eliminating that most spurious of taxes. In fact, the vast majority of the so called "representatives of the people" constitutes in reality the representatives of the government instead- increasingly authoritarian minded and knee-deep in graft and cronyism. Now, if it is merely a question of how much of my labor the government wants, then I do not have a right to my labor at all. For a time maybe I will pay a third. Then later on in life taxes on income will eat up more, maybe half. Someday they may want 60 or 70 percent. The point is that it is not my decision. It is the government's decision. If they have a legal claim (as the law currently allows) on my labor then they have a claim on my person. I do not own my labor and therefore do not own myself. It can be reasonably argued that since I am allowed by the state to keep a percentage of my labor that my status is more akin to being a serf than an outright slave. Rightly so, but the underlying problem persists. The state has a claim on my labor. The only reason that we are not wallowing in poverty from this onus is that modern capitalism has increased the productivity of the average worker to what would have been unthinkable in pre-industrialized society. Productivity, the creation of beneficial products, is wealth. What once took the work of two or three men now takes one. As a result of this people are far wealthier and can surrender a portion of their labor without falling into poverty. But the underlying moral problem remains. I do not have a right to my labor.
Many people will say that if the state takes a third then the state owns one third of my workweek and I own two thirds. This is a fallacious argument. They simply allow me to keep the two thirds at their pleasure out of which I have the pleasure to pay my other taxes like sales tax and property tax. Since they control my income and the percentage I pay to them the state has the right to my labor and I do not have any right to my labor at all.
What then is to be done? We must fight to end all taxes on income. The 16th Amendment must be repealed and income tax must be declared a form of involuntary servitude. There can be no compromise on this matter for it is a moral issue like the right to believe as I might and say what is on my mind without the fear that the agents of the state will imprison me,harass me, or track me based solely on my beliefs or statements. Lastly, the advocates for omnipotent government must be deprived this great source of financial lifeblood from which they will fashion a future of fascism which will for a time abrogate the remainder of human dignity.
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