There are some simple truths to the matter of taxes: 1. Fewer people are paying an ever greater share of the tax burden collected by the federal government. More and more are getting "services" or income from those fewer people without being directly taxed on income themselves.
2. The progressive tax scheme came straight out of the Communist Manifesto. That, and other teachings of Karl Marx, led to mass slaughter and squalor in the 20th Century.
3. You have more rights if you are suspected of serial murder and hiding the bodies under your flower beds in your backyard, than if you are suspected of tax evasion by the IRS.
4. Even if you are among the 47% who pay no federal income tax, you are still taxed through the gills through such means as taxes on the company you buy your food from, sales taxes, fuel and energy taxes, and anon. Rich or poor, we are all being robbed.
5. Yes, taxation and wealth redistribution are theft! If you're walking down the street and you had a beggar a $5 bill, you're virtuous. If, however, I hold a gun at your head, take your wallet, and hand it to that very same beggar you are NOT virtuous. You are a victim of armed robbery. This is exactly what the IRS is all about, since you will be faced with armed officers trying to arrest you (violence against you as an individual) should you disagree with any of the government's plans for your property -- that is, your money.
6. Capital gains taxes are punishments for success. The investments that result in capital gains create jobs and more wealth. Taxing such gains only discourages investment and job creation, impoverishing us all.
7. Your money, from whatever source, is the symbol of your labor. As such, it is your property. Neither I nor the government have any right to any of your money beyond what the Constitution allows the federal government to do. Were the Tenth Amendment to be enforced, fully 80% of the federal budget (probably much more nowadays) would be illegal and have to be returned to the people from whom it was confiscated.
8. A low, flat tax, with payments due from every taxpayer every month like a phone bill, would solve any number of ills facing America today: folks would see right away just how much the government was taking and start voting for lower tax rates, resources spent on accounting will go to more productive uses, the economy would flourish and jobs created, and the federal government would have far less power than it has today. All of these things would be better than what we have today.
9. The tax code, as it has become since FDR, is not to raise money, but to engineer society. This flies in the face of American ideals of Liberty. It is an attempt to control the very lives, thoughts and choices of every American who should otherwise be free.
10. Tax cheats aren't all bad! I mean, the Left loves Tim Geitner, Charley Rangel, David Dinkins, etc. Of course, for Republicans, it would be career ender. But for Democrats? Just like sex scandals, cheating on your taxes can be a resume enhancer.
Copyright April 19th, 2010
