> [Krimel] > Platt and Craig especially have argued that > taxation is theft for example.
[Craig] Nope, not me (Micah perhaps?) For me there are 3 requirements for taxation: 1) the tax revenue is for a legitimate government function, 2) the correct entities are taxed & 3) the tax is fair (neither too high nor too low). For instance: 1) The Securities & Exchange Commission is a legitimate government function 2) Its cost should be paid for (by taxes or fees) by those involved in securities & exchange 3) Such taxes & fees should match the SEC's cost . For the radical libertarian position that "taxation is theft": http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/666806/posts [Krimel] My apologies, we are closer than I thought. But still no cigar. If "user fee" style taxes that you advocate above were sufficient to support something like that SEC then the SEC should be a private enterprise. This model of taxation is the kind of abomination that results in toll roads. Taxes are not "fair" in the sense that every individual who pays them gets a direct benefit from the service provided. Benefits accrue to every member of society when securities transactions are monitored and regulated. I benefit from highway construction in New Jersey whenever I travel to New Jersey and New Jersey tourists benefit by having roads here in Florida. The user fee model is just a foot in the door to for the radical libertarian model and for the ludicrous "Fair Tax" plan floated by the rich to further soak the poor. BTW, Craig I know you have long supported frugality in the use of text in the posts on this forum but an extra carriage return at the end of your posts would help to distinguish what you are saying from the spam tacked on at the end of these messages. At carriage return only takes up one byte so it is not likely to clog your inbox. Just a suggestion... Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
