-Caveat Lector- from: http://www.zolatimes.com/V3.20/pageone.html <A HREF="http://www.zolatimes.com/V3.20/pageone.html">Laissez Faire City Times - Volume 3 Issue 20 </A> ----- Laissez Faire City Times May 17, 1999 - Volume 3, Issue 20 Editor & Chief: Emile Zola ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Immorality of Taxation by Sunni Maravillosa One of the best aspects of having my ideas published in the Laissez Faire City Times is the feedback I receive from individuals who take the time to read my essays. Although I do enjoy the complimentary messages, the ones I get most value from are those that make me think about the issues again, and challenge me to examine my beliefs. One such message came in response to my Tax Days essay, in which I reminded individuals of the ongoing, daily tax bite that gets taken out of our lives. After reading it, a reader accused me of "chant[ing] the libertarian mantra that ALL taxes are the same; all equally morally abhorrent�". Being one who takes pride in thinking for myself and reaching my own conclusions, I will admit to feeling a little stung at the implication that I was merely reciting dogma, even if it is dogma I agree with. That, along with some specific comments, spurred me to re-examine the issue of taxation and my feelings about it. I remember my first job, obtained when I was fourteen years old. I was a soda jerk in a mom-and-pop ice cream shop in my hometown�typical small-town America. My starting salary�$1.00 per hour�seemed almost a fortune to me back then, and as I worked those first two weeks I kept careful track of my earnings and spun dreams about how I�d use my hard-earned money. Then I received my paycheck. Ripping open the envelope in eager anticipation, my sense of happiness deflated as I saw line after line of deductions taken from my earnings, leaving me with a fraction of what I�d planned on having. I was not a libertarian then, and wasn�t even too politically aware, but I will always remember the feeling of betrayal that surged through me when I saw what I had earned being taken by nameless, faceless others. Although the sting lessened, with every paycheck I�ve received I still feel that visceral tug over the ongoing theft of my rewards for my labor. When I finally discovered the libertarian philosophy, much later in my life, I saw for the first time that there were other people who thought as I did, who valued things and individuals as I did. This realization left me almost literally giddy for a time, as I�d become inured to being different from friends, family, and colleagues who comprised my social environment. Even so, I read and considered and debated the ideas I was discovering, rather than accepting them as stated. One of the things that immediately made a lot of sense to me was the immorality of taxes. The idea that if one person steals what doesn�t belong to him, it�s called theft, but if a government does it under the guise of taxation, it is okay�even expected and complied with!�resonated deeply. So I may simply be chanting a mantra, but it happens to express values I have given consideration to and accept fully. A Justified Tax? The reader went on to state his objection to the anti-tax mantra: "it fails to distinguish between those taxes which are truly abhorrent, such as the income, SS and Medicare taxes, and those which can be justified as a valid user-fee for the provision of public infrastructure required by the free market". This got me to thinking�is it possible that I�ve been too dogmatic on the issue of taxes? Is there a tax that is morally justified? I started my deliberations by looking up the definition of �tax� in my dictionary (Webster�s New World Dictionary). The relevant definition is "to require to pay a percentage of income, property value, etc. for the support of a government". The coercive nature of any tax, coupled with the fact that it goes to a government that uses it�without my agreement as to what goods and services I wish to support and those I would not�make all taxes immoral in my opinion. No one�individual or an institution�has any right to force a person to spend a moment of his life supporting anything. By definition, that is what every tax does. The fact that an individual may wish to support some programs does not offset the spending of his money on programs he does not value. The free-market aspect of the above comment spurred me to think about them and what they require. Perhaps I�m na�ve or simple-minded on this�I am certainly not an economist�but it seems to me that the only thing a free market requires is to be left alone by those who would seek to limit or control it. Any infrastructure required of the market should be invested in by those in the market. For example, if I own a store and I want customers to come to my store and buy my goods, it makes sense for me to place the store in a location where it�s convenient for my potential customers, and to provide easy access to my store. I should therefore be willing to pay for the road my shop is on to be well-paved and lighted, and for sidewalks to make foot travel safe. My example brings up the questions of land use and provision of certain services. Although it may have seemed so in our recent history, it is not the case that all land use is irresponsible, nor that free markets are incompatible with responsible stewardship of the land. (See Don L. Tiggre�s interview with Sand County President Brent Haglund in a previous issue of Laissez Faire City Times for an excellent discussion of this topic.) I think that we are learning how to do this better, and that the next 50 years will bring great progress in this area. The reader also comments, "we have learned to assign a public interface to private sites, to enable the free market to operate. For example, Where [sic] there were massive tracts of land, we created rights-of-way and easements". I agree that we have learned to do this, and have divvied up much of the land into public and private parcels. But is this the best way to accomplish our goals? Might there be a better way of providing access to places and things people are interested in going to, and our "learning" has become an obstacle to discovering those methods? Others more experienced in the issues have debated this topic at great length, with no solution emerging as the best one; I have no great plan in mind for the Great Completely Privatized Society. Yet there were paths and roads long before governments took over their creation and maintenance. If it was done before, it can be done again; the greatest challenge seems to lie in how to move from the state�s provision of these services back to the private sector doing so. Although we currently rely on property and other land taxes to support infrastructure, habit is not a sufficient reason to continue the practice. A truly free market does not need such a prop in order to operate. The free market, if left unfettered by state intervention, will thrive without the burdens of taxation and competition from government services. It does not need "enabling". Just because certain roles have been taken over by the state does not mean that the state is the best provider of those services�the postal monopoly and federal highway system are excellent examples. Creative minds not limited by what we have "learned" and the systems we operate within today can certainly find ways to provide services via user fees, which would be a much more fair way of providing funds for needed infrastructure. In the example above, it behooves me as a shop owner to keep the street my store is located on in good repair; otherwise customers might find it more convenient to visit my competitor that�s located on a smooth road. Paying a fee to a private road-maintenance company may seem silly, but doing so would ensure that those who value the infrastructure pay for its upkeep. Similarly, those who drive on the road�using the infrastructure and causing wear and tear�should also pay for its upkeep. Fees levied on those who benefit from infrastructure are preferable to taxes, particularly when taxes are assessed and used without clear accounting. Taxes on land are not a user fee, because a fee is voluntary. Property and other land taxes are therefore just as coercive and immoral as any other tax. A sincere "thank you" to everyone who provides comments to my essays, whether in private e-mail or via the forum on the Laissez Faire City Times web site. I am not able to respond in this manner to every comment I receive, but I welcome them, and appreciate the opportunity they give me to re-think the issues and my beliefs. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sunni Maravillosa is a psychologist and web mistress for the Liberty Round Table (URL http://home.lrt.org/ ). These days you can also find her in Freedom City part of another pro-freedom activity she co-founded with Don L. Tiggre, The Freedom Channel (URL http://www.evanstonwy.com/freedom ). -30- from The Laissez Faire City Times, Vol 3, No 20, May 20, 1999 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Published by Laissez Faire City Netcasting Group, Inc. Copyright 1998 - Trademark Registered with LFC Public Registrar All Rights Reserved ----- Aloha, He'Ping, Om, Shalom, Salaam. Em Hotep, Peace Be, Omnia Bona Bonis, All My Relations. Adieu, Adios, Aloha. Amen. Roads End Kris DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. 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