Archive for taxes
Tax Slavery Sucks
Posted by: | CommentsThis article is #19 of a weekly series highlighting the former memes of Bureaucrash, an organization once headed by my friends Pete Eyre and Jason Talley of the Motorhome Diaries. The memes were originally authored by Pete Eyre and Anja Hartleb-Parson, and were intended as means of communicating ideas about liberty in catchy and succinct ways.
According to the Tax Foundation, Americans will spend about 30 percent of their income on taxes in 2008. For comparison, in 1900, it was around 6 percent. Put differently, for almost four months out of the year you work just to pay for government. In the current system most types of income are taxed, sometimes twice, and often progressively. These are just some of the taxes levied by government: federal and local income tax, sales tax, property tax, gasoline tax, cigarette tax, liquor tax, vehicle sales tax, utility tax, marriage license tax, inheritance tax, and capital gains tax, etc. On top of that, you pay to compensate for taxes levied on others. For instance, you, as a consumer, pay higher prices for goods and services because of the corporate income tax levied on businesses. The government, if it is to exist, should protect people from force and fraud. Therefore, at most, government should tax only to maintain a national defense, a police force and law courts. But instead, legislators seek to fulfill the so-called “needs” of the constituencies and special interest groups that put and keep them in office. So, the government has tasked itself with providing cheaper prescription drugs for seniors, improving education for children, supporting for farmers by keeping food prices high and paying them for any product they fail to sell, covering the living expenses of the poor, paying for medical research, and so on. The result is not a system that protects our individual rights but a system that provides benefits to some at the expense of others. Typically there will be concentrated benefits and dispersed costs, which makes organizing resistance difficult and leads to even larger government interference.
Please support LCC by sharing this post on your favorite social network.
Tags: economics, ethics, memes, money, property rights, taxation, taxes
Related Content:
It’s Tax Day 2010, have you paid your fee to live?
Posted by: | CommentsToday is Thursday April 15th, 2010, and today your tax return is due. Last year I wrote a 10 article series leading up to April 15 called “10 Things I Hate About Taxes,” so here are some links back to those articles with brief quotes.
Lost Productivity – “Ever wondered how much time and money are lost through federal tax returns? It actually is rather astounding even by conservative estimates.”
Newspeak – “Governments manipulate language for their own purposes constantly. It allows them to circumvent truth in the public square (at least to the unobservant eye and ear).”
The Truth About Government Spending – “Every cent that the government spends is the tax, not merely what is collected. Every cent spent is an income tax. Cutting collected taxes without cutting spending is merely tax deferment, nothing more.”
Privacy and Personal Income – “Let’s ask again, what right does the government have to my income, or even the information about my income? Constitutionally, the government does not have the right to force information about my income from me.”
Your Tax Dollars at Work – “Think about all the crazy things you know your tax money pays for…”
Withholding Taxes – “The withholding tax allows the government to make their insane demands more palatable to us. A penny here, a penny there – these won’t add up to much in the end, right? Withholdings from every paycheck is like silent theft, gone unnoticed.”
Caesar’s Benevolence – “Government benevolence is notoriously inefficient. Statistics show that for every dollar the government uses in a ‘benevolent way,’ only 25 cents actually is used to ‘help’ those in need.”
Living in Fear – “To say that the tax code is complicated would be the understatement of the century. It is, in fact, far beyond complicated, so much so that no one in this world could possibly understand it.”
Taxation is Theft – “I have already said and illustrated this numerous times in previous articles, but I will say it once again: Taxation is theft, period.”
Lost Prosperity – “We have to realize that trade, the social mechanism of increasing our economic well-being, is a win-win proposition. By definition, when you and I agree to trade the fruits of our labor, we are implicitly agreeing that we are both better off by making the transaction. Conversely, government force is a lose-lose proposition.”
Epilogue – “The government has over $56 trillion of outstanding, unfunded liabilities – financial commitments that you and I will pay. If this number seems hard to comprehend, then picture that this is $184,000 for every man, woman, and child in the United States.”
Are you attending a Tax Day Protest today? I’ll be at the south steps of the Texas Capitol come late afternoon, speaking out about the evils of the State. I hope you get a chance to do the same soon.
Please support LCC by sharing this post on your favorite social network.
Tags: ethics, government, taxation, taxes, theft
Related Content:
Joe Stack and the IRS: A Christian Libertarian Response
Posted by: | CommentsFrom an Austin resident and Christian libertarian
On February 18, 2010, Joe Stack set the final plan of his life in motion. At roughly 9:00 a.m., he burned his house down, traumatizing his wife and child. By 9:40 a.m., Stack had departed from the Georgetown airport 21 miles from his home in his Piper Cherokee PA 28 airplane. At 9:56 a.m., he crashed this plane into an IRS office near the intersection of Mopac Boulevard and U.S. Route 183 in Austin, Texas, ending his own life, killing one individual, seriously wounding others, and causing immeasurable grief to many more. Read More→
Please support LCC by sharing this post on your favorite social network.
Tags: Austin, News, taxation, taxes, Tea Party, Texas, theft
Related Content:
A Quote from Rand to Consider
Posted by: | CommentsI ran across this quote in an email on the Christian Libertarian Yahoo Group, and it struck me in a particularly poignant way. It is sad, but so true, that Western civilization is spiraling. No one knows how long it can last as is. But one thing is for sure – it will not last. Something must give.
“Do you wish to know whether that day is coming? Watch money. Money is the barometer of a society’s virtue. When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion–when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing–when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors–when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you–when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice–you may know that your society is doomed. Money is so noble a medium that is does not compete with guns and it does not make terms with brutality. It will not permit a country to survive as half-property, half-loot.”– Ayn Rand
I think Rand is spot on. This is why we need to End the Fed and stop the spending spree.
I highly recommend reading Francisco d’Anconia’s Money Speech from Atlas Shrugged in entirety. Great stuff…
Please support LCC by sharing this post on your favorite social network.
Tags: corruption, economics, Rand, society, taxes, war
Related Content:
LP Texas Helps Defeat $1 Billion Scheme of Fake “Private Roads”
Posted by: | CommentsOver the past two days, the Libertarian Party of Texas has done a splendid job in saving Texans a truck-load of money from a scheme that fleeces taxpayers of their hard-earned money and gives far too much power to government.
I am a staunch proponent of privatization of road systems, even publishing an article about transportation pollution in a peer-reviewed journal advocating such. But this perverse plan that the Texas government has put out is a sham, and misconstrues what privatization is all about. Robert Butler says: “The toll roads aren’t a free market privatization plan. You’re granting monopoly rights to private operators. The bonds backing these toll roads have clauses that prevent competition and are guaranteed with tax dollars.” Thank goodness that it has been defeated!
This is what local activism is all about, self-destructing the plans of autocrats (pun intended) at the local level and saving peaceful citizens livelihood. Well done, LP Texas (esp. Pat Dixon & Robert Butler), Texans for Accountable Government, TURF, and all others unmentioned who have worked so hard to do what is right. If you’re involved in local activism in your community, take this as an example of how you can make a difference.
I should mention that this should not be taken as a blanket endorsement of the LP in every way. I have actually been very critical of LP National in the past and sometimes I think they severely miss the mark in terms of being consistent libertarians. But, I have been extremely impressed by the work of the LP Texas organization and am honored to be a friend to many of the people there.
See the press release below.
Libertarians Put the Brakes on Toll Road Transportation Bill
“Twitter and Facebook Play a Role” (original article link)
AUSTIN, TEXAS – July 2, 2009 - The Texas Legislature left a controversial new toll road bill pending in committee today and Libertarians are claiming a major victory in stopping a billion dollar scheme to use taxes and pension funds to pay for private monopolies and foreign management of Texas toll roads.
Libertarians worked together with TURF, Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom, and Texans for Accountable Government (TAG), to stop what some have dubbed the largest tax increase in Texas history.
On Wednesday morning, Libertarians from across the state converged at the Texas Capitol, emailed, and called their state representatives to demand that public-private partnerships funded with Texas tax dollars and pension funds be stopped.
“We used our extensive email lists, Twitter, and Facebook accounts to activate thousands of freedom-loving Texans,” said LPT Executive Director Robert Butler. “Our people called, emailed, and personally visited every member of the House and Senate. Our press conference and grassroots effort had a major impact in potentially killing this bill. We have to continue our public awareness campaign until the special session officially ends.”
“Credit goes to the work of our staff and volunteers for discovering the ugly details behind this legislation,” said Libertarian State Chair Patrick Dixon. “For an organization with just over $100k in revenue, we certainly do have an impact on policy.”
“Toll roads cost up to twice as much to build as non-tolled expressways,” said LPT Executive Director Robert Butler. “The toll roads aren’t a free market privatization plan. You’re granting monopoly rights to private operators. The bonds backing these toll roads have clauses that prevent competition and are guaranteed with tax dollars.”
In 2005, the State of Texas entered a 50-year agreement with a Spanish company named Cintra to develop the Trans-Texas Corridor, a 4,000-mile network up to 1,200 feet wide to carry parallel links of tollways, rails, and utility lines. Cintra’s parent company, Grupo Ferrovial, S.A, was a major collaborator with Spanish dictator Francisco Franco and depends upon its political connections to secure toll road contracts around the world.
In 2007, by a combined vote of 169-5, the Texas Legislature passed a moratorium on private toll contracts, called comprehensive development agreements (or CDAs) that privatize and sell Texas highways to the highest bidder. That moratorium ends August 31, 2009, and CDAs, except for approximately a dozen projects that were exempted, sunset with it. CDAs are the primary financial vehicle used to construct the Trans Texas Corridor.
“I want to cut taxes and spending,” declared Libertarian activist Wes Benedict. “They have refused to approve low-cost road improvements claiming they don’t have the funds, then propose rail and toll roads which cost up to ten times more than buses and non-tolled roads per passenger mile of added capacity. Light rail and toll roads cost too much and do too little.”
“We Libertarians and our friends at TURF and TAG have shown that an educated voter can change the course of legislation.” noted Butler. “This bill will be a litmus test in the 2010 elections, we’ll make sure of that.
Please support LCC by sharing this post on your favorite social network.
Tags: activism, Libertarian Party, private roads, taxes
Related Content:
Norman is the creator and primary writer for LCC. Learn a little bit about him in the