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A common thing I hear from conservatives is that taxation is a form of theft, but those same conservatives make exceptions to that (like law enforcement, military etc) But if taxing is forcibly taking money from one group of people and giving it to another then how can you justify taxes at all--even for the military? To me that's inconsistent. Either taxation is theft or it isn't. Taxation is either right or it is wrong. How do you explain this?
A common thing I hear from conservatives is that taxation is a form of theft, but those same conservatives make exceptions to that (like law enforcement, military etc) But if taxing is forcibly taking money from one group of people and giving it to another then how can you justify taxes at all--even for the military? To me that's inconsistent. Either taxation is theft or it isn't. Taxation is either right or it is wrong. How do you explain this?
mackinac
Unfortunately I sense that the subtext here is that this is supposed to lead to the iron-clad conclusion where a person say's: "Q.E.D. - Ergo, via pointing out common hypocrisy of conservatives, I have just proved that taxes are rarely, if ever, theft," when the conclusion could alternatively be that they are, but pointing out the habitual inconsistencies in the conservative philosophy is just icing on the cake that they deserved to be called on.
The Constitutionalists (who aren't necessarily conservatives, as Conservatism is its own thing) might try to offer a rejoinder to that criticism by positing that it is only theft if the taxation falls outside the scope of allowable spending, but I don't put much stock in that explanation, as they rarely muster up an ethical defense of why Constitutionalism itself is moral, as they usually either: (a) just take it as an a priori axiom that it is prima facie just, just because it is a preexisting structure which they feel they cannot ever question the legitimacy of, or (b) if they are slightly educated and versed in literature, they might offer up a brief handwaving argument relating to Rousseau's thesis. Depending on if one buys into argument (a) or (b), they may, or may not, actually be inconsistent in their position.
Last edited by FreedomThroughAnarchism; 06-24-2011 at 10:13 PM..
A common thing I hear from conservatives is that taxation is a form of theft, but those same conservatives make exceptions to that (like law enforcement, military etc) But if taxing is forcibly taking money from one group of people and giving it to another then how can you justify taxes at all--even for the military? To me that's inconsistent. Either taxation is theft or it isn't. Taxation is either right or it is wrong. How do you explain this?
I'm not sure that I can being that you are not a US Citizen, are not from the US and have no clue about the US Constitution.
But, I'll try anyway.
The US Constitution states that the federal government is responsible for the military, as well as the defense of the United States, and so taxes levied to maintain the military or defend the US are constitutional and not theft.
Basically, each of us, or actually each of you, since I pay no taxes, chips in a few bucks to be safe and secure.
On the other hand, no where in the US Constitution does it say that the federal government is responsible for ensuring that people live outlandish life-styles and get to party all the time.
So, taxing people and taking their hard earned money to give it to people to fund their life-styles is theft.
Right now, the US government is taking people's hard earned tax dollars and giving it to other people to fund their life-styles, vis a vis Food Stamps. That is theft.
A responsible government would ensure that before it gave someone $200 in Food Stamps, that person cancelled $200 worth of cable/satellite TV, cell-phone, internet, NetFlix, GameStop and dope-smoking services.
Of course, if the lazy selfish sloth did that (ie cancelled their internet, cell-phone, cable/satellite, NetFlix, GameStop services), then they wouldn't need $200 worth of tax payer money to buy food in the first place.
Do yourself a favor, come to the US and live for a while so you can see how things really work.
I'm not sure that I can being that you are not a US Citizen, are not from the US and have no clue about the US Constitution.
But, I'll try anyway.
The US Constitution states that the federal government is responsible for the military, as well as the defense of the United States, and so taxes levied to maintain the military or defend the US are constitutional and not theft.
Basically, each of us, or actually each of you, since I pay no taxes, chips in a few bucks to be safe and secure.
On the other hand, no where in the US Constitution does it say that the federal government is responsible for ensuring that people live outlandish life-styles and get to party all the time.
So, taxing people and taking their hard earned money to give it to people to fund their life-styles is theft.
Right now, the US government is taking people's hard earned tax dollars and giving it to other people to fund their life-styles, vis a vis Food Stamps. That is theft.
A responsible government would ensure that before it gave someone $200 in Food Stamps, that person cancelled $200 worth of cable/satellite TV, cell-phone, internet, NetFlix, GameStop and dope-smoking services.
Of course, if the lazy selfish sloth did that (ie cancelled their internet, cell-phone, cable/satellite, NetFlix, GameStop services), then they wouldn't need $200 worth of tax payer money to buy food in the first place.
Do yourself a favor, come to the US and live for a while so you can see how things really work.
Absolutely hilarious. You have to from the U.S. to understand the constitution? You are from the U.S. and you don't. I can give you a quiz if you like...are you up for it?
I'm not sure that I can being that you are not a US Citizen, are not from the US and have no clue about the US Constitution.
But, I'll try anyway.
The US Constitution states that the federal government is responsible for the military, as well as the defense of the United States, and so taxes levied to maintain the military or defend the US are constitutional and not theft.
Basically, each of us, or actually each of you, since I pay no taxes, chips in a few bucks to be safe and secure.
On the other hand, no where in the US Constitution does it say that the federal government is responsible for ensuring that people live outlandish life-styles and get to party all the time.
So, taxing people and taking their hard earned money to give it to people to fund their life-styles is theft.
Right now, the US government is taking people's hard earned tax dollars and giving it to other people to fund their life-styles, vis a vis Food Stamps. That is theft.
A responsible government would ensure that before it gave someone $200 in Food Stamps, that person cancelled $200 worth of cable/satellite TV, cell-phone, internet, NetFlix, GameStop and dope-smoking services.
Of course, if the lazy selfish sloth did that (ie cancelled their internet, cell-phone, cable/satellite, NetFlix, GameStop services), then they wouldn't need $200 worth of tax payer money to buy food in the first place.
Do yourself a favor, come to the US and live for a while so you can see how things really work.
All that plus liberals in every office who don't fix, refine, revisit issues, just want to toss more tax-payer monies at the already broken program/issue.
To the OP:
Taxation is not theft when the one paying the taxes receives a service, no matter how large or small, in return for paying said taxes.
It was an excellent OP, and I think that you have it about right. It is theft when the rich pay taxes and not theft when the middle class pays taxes.
It's theft when you want to levy a higher tax on "the rich" for the sole reason they "have more" than the average "middle class" tax payer.
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