“Taxation is theft, purely and simply even though it is theft on a grand and colossal scale which no acknowledged criminals could hope to match. It is a compulsory seizure of the property of the State’s inhabitants, or subjects.”
― Murray N. Rothbard (March 2, 1926; - January 7, 1995 )
Great post, great timing, thanks. As Americans we understand we have creator-granted rights. But then it is the nature of psychopathic kleptocrats to be unsatisfied unless they can take their toys and go home as "winners".
Bravo! What we also must do to keep our rights we were born with is to stop aiding and abetting these psychopathic kleptocrats by enlisting in their armies and fighting our fellow man.
Yep, it’s an ancient brand of witchcraft. No matter how far I follow family history back in time, there are grandfather after grandfather willing to be nothing but bloody cannon fodder on some royal battlefield. Time to learn new ways.
And the reason that all you say is correct is because the true currency of life is TIME. If I spend 100 hours of my time, 100 hours of my *life*, to buy a bicycle, if you steal my bicycle you have stolen 100 precious hours of my life. (And none of us have any guarantee of how many more hours of life we have, right? )
Don’t enslave people, don’t impoverish people by advocating for theft from some to give to others. Communism is enslavement!
Ralph Raico and Hans-Hermann Hoppe have pointed-out that the tax-take under european monarchy was on the order of 5-10%. Under Democracy 30-50%. That's dubious progress.
Is Karl Hess "some"? Slavery was NOT abolished in the US; the XIV amendment (statist lying enumeration "XIII") says ..."except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted"... . Since one must sign tax forms under penalties (yes, plural) of perjury (the IRS deems them unfiled otherwise), you've convicted yourself if you wish to earn a living.
The Constitution is the highest law of our land - it is ABOVE all other laws. Therefore, slavery is illegal in the USA, no matter how many illegal "laws" "legalize" it.
Can you (Deseret News masthead personified?) even read? Use a dictionary? Are you a pseudojournalist, so can't?
Article I Section 9 guaranteed slavery until the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight, and the Republican (GOP) proposed amendment 13a would have guaranteed it forever.
You'd make your point far better if you cited the Declaration of Independence.
DID you reply to me? Cuz your "reply" makes no sense... What does Deseret News masthead personified even mean??? And, as Scott points out, what does a dictionary have to do with the contents of the US Constitution, Bill of Rights, or anything I commented about???
Take your own advice and read it properly. Where in the main body (the misnumbered "13th" amendment is very conditional) does the Constitution ftuSA say "slavery is illegal in the USA"?
The masthead: "We Stand for the Constitution of the United States as having been divinely inspired"
I like it! Along a similar vein, I have recently been listening to G. Edward Griffin on individualism and collectivism. I found his discussion well done. If interested, see samples below.
Bravo. This is the way to think about Serfdom2.0, the CBDCs and the climate hoax taxes these fuckers want to enslave us with. It is a global problem, but I appreciate the US perspective. Brothers and sisters #enoughisenough
taxation is theft. communism is just full theft. Once you agree that taxation is OK, you already agreed to support criminals. You have no moral standing to criticize communists now.
I agree. You have focused on the collectivist notion of wealth redistribution, (which is eventually a self defeating idea, they run out of other peoples money).
But missed by so many are the myriad of ways that taxation (income, sales, fees, etc) is already used to redistribute earned capital.
We have generally all agreed to the notion the "gov" will defend our citizens and country from invasion and understand the need to fund an armed professional military.
We generally all understand the need to keep the peace among the various states, and so there is a need for some bureaucracy to manage differences.
We generally see the need for law and order and the need for a limited federal judiciary and legislature (not the roid-rage police state).
Well and good. Let's figure some way to fund these through some form of equitable tithe or tax.
But then political maggots stir the consensus into a witches brew of entitlements. Over the last 100+ years (when the tax to fund WW1 was made permanent) we have reaped agency after department after bureau after board after committee after ... "but can't you see the poor suffering ___ who need a hand" (forever, for generation upon generation).
From public transportation, to subsidized corporations, to institutionalized welfare serfdom to tax waivers for this mega corp, to aid for this or that shithole country that's always been and always will be, no matter how much money you launder through it ...
We have given away, or been tricked out of, our responsibilities to protect our rights. It is long past time to regroup and regain those rights, by taking back the responsibilities of protecting those freedoms.
I see taxes as theft! I think people should have to write a check each month to the government instead of having it taken out of their pay. We’ll see how long the high taxes last.
I hope you're not serious. Taxation is essential. It's what and who are taxed, according to what criteria and how the money is used that count, and that comes back to politics.
We don't have to have a sales tax AND an income tax and personal property tax and a local tax and a state tax and a medicare tax and an inheritance tax and, and, and. Wake the fuck up - government has become Big Daddy and doesn't want to let go so they try to rule every aspect of your life. Think back just a mere four decades. We had a whole lot more freedom. It is being eroded every single day.
:) The economist Professors Raico and Hoppe have frequently emphasized that the net tax take of the State under European monarchy was 5-10%. That means Today we are much more productive yet the modern state under 'Democracy' takes 30-50%.
None of that excess growth has anything to do with necessary functions of administration or defense. Name a social function usurped by the state and I'll show it has worked better in private enterprise.
A good essay, and I don't think I've read a writer in recent years cast these things in terms of free speech.
Although Ludwig von Mises did write, nearly 100 years ago, that the individual's ability to decide what to purchase is form of individual expression.
While the ideas here may have actually come to James 'sui generis', they have a historic philogeny in the writings of libertarian (and classical liberal) economists and philosophers.
For the curious reader, I'll mention my favorites: Carl Menger, Claude Frédéric Bastiat, Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk, Joseph Schumpeter, Ludwig von Mises, Murray Rothbard, Wilhelm Röpke, Leonard E. Read, Henry Hazlitt, Frank Fetter, Garet Garrett, Albert Jay Nock, Butler Schaffer, Ludwig Lachmann, George Reisman, Roger Garrison, Robert Higgs, David Gordon, Walter Block, Ralph Raico, Lew Rockwell, Joerg Guido Hülsmann, Thorsten Poleit, Bob Murphy, Philpp Bagus, Peter Boettke, Joe Salerno.
I'm forgetting a few but a lifetime of reading on economics and freedom is available for purchase or free at https://mises.org
Good stuff, Maynard! What that crowd uniformly ignores, however, is the second classical meaning of Liberty, which is a people free from foreign rule.
“Taxation is theft, purely and simply even though it is theft on a grand and colossal scale which no acknowledged criminals could hope to match. It is a compulsory seizure of the property of the State’s inhabitants, or subjects.”
― Murray N. Rothbard (March 2, 1926; - January 7, 1995 )
https://fee.org/articles/33-choice-quotes-from-the-great-murray-rothbard/
Great post, great timing, thanks. As Americans we understand we have creator-granted rights. But then it is the nature of psychopathic kleptocrats to be unsatisfied unless they can take their toys and go home as "winners".
I think you're deliberately "misunderstanding" what he wrote. Grow up.
By "grow up", I'm suggesting you read properly what was written. Like an adult.
Naturally kleptocrat humans are born with the same rights as others. But some rights are forfeited when you choose commit a crime.
Bravo! What we also must do to keep our rights we were born with is to stop aiding and abetting these psychopathic kleptocrats by enlisting in their armies and fighting our fellow man.
Yep, it’s an ancient brand of witchcraft. No matter how far I follow family history back in time, there are grandfather after grandfather willing to be nothing but bloody cannon fodder on some royal battlefield. Time to learn new ways.
The rhetoric spewed out of their mouths: "We are fighting for freedom!!!"
Undoubtedly.
Well said and spot on, Dr. JLW!
And the reason that all you say is correct is because the true currency of life is TIME. If I spend 100 hours of my time, 100 hours of my *life*, to buy a bicycle, if you steal my bicycle you have stolen 100 precious hours of my life. (And none of us have any guarantee of how many more hours of life we have, right? )
Don’t enslave people, don’t impoverish people by advocating for theft from some to give to others. Communism is enslavement!
Ralph Raico and Hans-Hermann Hoppe have pointed-out that the tax-take under european monarchy was on the order of 5-10%. Under Democracy 30-50%. That's dubious progress.
Is Karl Hess "some"? Slavery was NOT abolished in the US; the XIV amendment (statist lying enumeration "XIII") says ..."except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted"... . Since one must sign tax forms under penalties (yes, plural) of perjury (the IRS deems them unfiled otherwise), you've convicted yourself if you wish to earn a living.
The Constitution is the highest law of our land - it is ABOVE all other laws. Therefore, slavery is illegal in the USA, no matter how many illegal "laws" "legalize" it.
Can you (Deseret News masthead personified?) even read? Use a dictionary? Are you a pseudojournalist, so can't?
Article I Section 9 guaranteed slavery until the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight, and the Republican (GOP) proposed amendment 13a would have guaranteed it forever.
You'd make your point far better if you cited the Declaration of Independence.
Why did you post this reply to me instead of to grrlrocks, to whom I replied? I think you conflate us.
Fwiw, I red No Treason 40 years ago.
DID you reply to me? Cuz your "reply" makes no sense... What does Deseret News masthead personified even mean??? And, as Scott points out, what does a dictionary have to do with the contents of the US Constitution, Bill of Rights, or anything I commented about???
In short, your comment makes no sense.
Take your own advice and read it properly. Where in the main body (the misnumbered "13th" amendment is very conditional) does the Constitution ftuSA say "slavery is illegal in the USA"?
The masthead: "We Stand for the Constitution of the United States as having been divinely inspired"
Hear, hear!!
I like it! Along a similar vein, I have recently been listening to G. Edward Griffin on individualism and collectivism. I found his discussion well done. If interested, see samples below.
https://archive.org/details/G-Edward-Griffin_Collectivism-and-Individualism (summary, 20 minutes)
https://rumble.com/vkijav-g.-edward-griffin-shares-the-invisible-battle-happening-right-now.html (More detailed criteria of individualism vs collectivism with examples, 60 minutes)
Bravo. This is the way to think about Serfdom2.0, the CBDCs and the climate hoax taxes these fuckers want to enslave us with. It is a global problem, but I appreciate the US perspective. Brothers and sisters #enoughisenough
taxation is theft. communism is just full theft. Once you agree that taxation is OK, you already agreed to support criminals. You have no moral standing to criticize communists now.
Well said. Income tax is theft and has allowed our government to grow fat and deeply corrupt. Abolish the income tax!
❤️ 🎯 100%.
I agree. You have focused on the collectivist notion of wealth redistribution, (which is eventually a self defeating idea, they run out of other peoples money).
But missed by so many are the myriad of ways that taxation (income, sales, fees, etc) is already used to redistribute earned capital.
We have generally all agreed to the notion the "gov" will defend our citizens and country from invasion and understand the need to fund an armed professional military.
We generally all understand the need to keep the peace among the various states, and so there is a need for some bureaucracy to manage differences.
We generally see the need for law and order and the need for a limited federal judiciary and legislature (not the roid-rage police state).
Well and good. Let's figure some way to fund these through some form of equitable tithe or tax.
But then political maggots stir the consensus into a witches brew of entitlements. Over the last 100+ years (when the tax to fund WW1 was made permanent) we have reaped agency after department after bureau after board after committee after ... "but can't you see the poor suffering ___ who need a hand" (forever, for generation upon generation).
From public transportation, to subsidized corporations, to institutionalized welfare serfdom to tax waivers for this mega corp, to aid for this or that shithole country that's always been and always will be, no matter how much money you launder through it ...
We have given away, or been tricked out of, our responsibilities to protect our rights. It is long past time to regroup and regain those rights, by taking back the responsibilities of protecting those freedoms.
I see taxes as theft! I think people should have to write a check each month to the government instead of having it taken out of their pay. We’ll see how long the high taxes last.
THIS!!!
👏👏👏
I hope you're not serious. Taxation is essential. It's what and who are taxed, according to what criteria and how the money is used that count, and that comes back to politics.
How much is essential? Have you heard of anarcho capitalism?
I don't know how much or what kind, only that a country can't function without it.
That's what people said about Kings too...
There have been stateless societies before.
"have been ... before" and likely will be again post-collapse.
A consumption tax is better. Some call it Value Added Tax.
Better than the inflation tax at least.
We don't have to have a sales tax AND an income tax and personal property tax and a local tax and a state tax and a medicare tax and an inheritance tax and, and, and. Wake the fuck up - government has become Big Daddy and doesn't want to let go so they try to rule every aspect of your life. Think back just a mere four decades. We had a whole lot more freedom. It is being eroded every single day.
I don't know why you're criticizing things I didn't say. And no need for profanity.
:) The economist Professors Raico and Hoppe have frequently emphasized that the net tax take of the State under European monarchy was 5-10%. That means Today we are much more productive yet the modern state under 'Democracy' takes 30-50%.
None of that excess growth has anything to do with necessary functions of administration or defense. Name a social function usurped by the state and I'll show it has worked better in private enterprise.
A good essay, and I don't think I've read a writer in recent years cast these things in terms of free speech.
Although Ludwig von Mises did write, nearly 100 years ago, that the individual's ability to decide what to purchase is form of individual expression.
While the ideas here may have actually come to James 'sui generis', they have a historic philogeny in the writings of libertarian (and classical liberal) economists and philosophers.
For the curious reader, I'll mention my favorites: Carl Menger, Claude Frédéric Bastiat, Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk, Joseph Schumpeter, Ludwig von Mises, Murray Rothbard, Wilhelm Röpke, Leonard E. Read, Henry Hazlitt, Frank Fetter, Garet Garrett, Albert Jay Nock, Butler Schaffer, Ludwig Lachmann, George Reisman, Roger Garrison, Robert Higgs, David Gordon, Walter Block, Ralph Raico, Lew Rockwell, Joerg Guido Hülsmann, Thorsten Poleit, Bob Murphy, Philpp Bagus, Peter Boettke, Joe Salerno.
I'm forgetting a few but a lifetime of reading on economics and freedom is available for purchase or free at https://mises.org
Good stuff, Maynard! What that crowd uniformly ignores, however, is the second classical meaning of Liberty, which is a people free from foreign rule.
When America implemented a Federal Tax around 1911, it was 2%. Empire is expensive!