Like Texas, you too can opt out of the U.S.
On Behalf of the Tea Bag Brigades: A Proposal
By Ernest Partridge
Last Wednesday, in hundreds of "tea party" demonstrations from sea to shining sea, the word was proclaimed: "Taxation (with or without representation) is tyranny!"
The People (well, maybe a small fraction of one percent of them) have spoken and must be heard, however confused and inchoate the message.
And so, in response, I have a simple proposal: let's make all tax payment voluntary.
Grover Norquist of "Americans for Tax Reform" proclaims that he wants to "drown government in the bathtub," by which he must mean abolish government services. What gives government the right, we are often asked, to seize our property through taxation? "It's your money!" Bob Dole shouted. And George Bush repeatedly asked, "who is better qualified to spend your money? You, or the government?" To the libertarian-right, tax payments for any purpose other then the protection of individual rights to life, liberty and property, is theft. (More on the "qualification" of the government to "spend your money"
here).
No one likes to pay taxes. But for that matter, no one likes to pay the mortgage on one's house, utility bills, or car payments. However, we all understand that if we do not make these payments, we will be evicted from our homes, or the electricity will be shut off, or our cars will be repossessed – and justly so.
So here is my proposal: Make all tax payment voluntary. If all those April 15 "tea party" tax protesters find tax-paying so onerous, then they should be excused from paying taxes.
The only provision is that if they do so, they are no longer entitled to the services that are supported by taxes.
To wit:
(Continued here.)
By Ernest Partridge
Last Wednesday, in hundreds of "tea party" demonstrations from sea to shining sea, the word was proclaimed: "Taxation (with or without representation) is tyranny!"
The People (well, maybe a small fraction of one percent of them) have spoken and must be heard, however confused and inchoate the message.
And so, in response, I have a simple proposal: let's make all tax payment voluntary.
Grover Norquist of "Americans for Tax Reform" proclaims that he wants to "drown government in the bathtub," by which he must mean abolish government services. What gives government the right, we are often asked, to seize our property through taxation? "It's your money!" Bob Dole shouted. And George Bush repeatedly asked, "who is better qualified to spend your money? You, or the government?" To the libertarian-right, tax payments for any purpose other then the protection of individual rights to life, liberty and property, is theft. (More on the "qualification" of the government to "spend your money"
here).
No one likes to pay taxes. But for that matter, no one likes to pay the mortgage on one's house, utility bills, or car payments. However, we all understand that if we do not make these payments, we will be evicted from our homes, or the electricity will be shut off, or our cars will be repossessed – and justly so.
So here is my proposal: Make all tax payment voluntary. If all those April 15 "tea party" tax protesters find tax-paying so onerous, then they should be excused from paying taxes.
The only provision is that if they do so, they are no longer entitled to the services that are supported by taxes.
To wit:
(Continued here.)
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