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> Taxes shouldn't be seen as a burden, they should be seen as an opportunity. What a load of garbage. Taxes are theft at the end of a gun and we have little ch

> Taxes shouldn't be seen as a burden, they should be seen as an opportunity. What a load of garbage. Taxes are theft at the end of a gun and we have little choice in how they are used. It's downright ignorant to believe that most taxes are used for the betterment of society rather than to line the pockets of select constituencies. Your conflation of "society" with "government" is fictitious.

venomsnake 10y ago
They are not theft, because a human does not have innate property rights(or any other kinds of rights for that matter). All your rights are provided and guaranteed by the state.
- effie 10y ago
  In the western society, people do have rights in fact, even if not granted formally by some government. This is because vast majority of other people respect those rights, without needing government to tell them. For example, most people accept my right to wear red shoes. Nobody really gave me that right; it is obvious. Similarly for the right to private ownership, the right to express myself and the right to move.
  - venomsnake 10y ago
    State != government. Also try putting brown shirt in Germany on whose shoulder there is red band with white circle. In which circle inside there is black painting in the shape of bent cross ... and we will see exactly what the western government of Germany thinks of your fashion choices and your freedom to express yourself. Hint - your right to move may be somewhat in peril.
- Tiksi 10y ago
  By that reasoning, the state does not have an innate right or authority to provide or guarantee human rights. And really, it's human's that guarantee the state's rights, not the other way around. The state is an abstract concept that exists only because humans gave it that right at some point.
  - venomsnake 10y ago
    Power gives right and authority. The only universal definition of state is monopoly over the use of force over any given territory.
    - Tiksi 10y ago
      Yes but that monopoly is granted by the humans in the territory, and humans are the ones that exercise the state's power.
wongarsu 10y ago
>Taxes are theft at the end of a gun and we have little choice in how they are used That's a big reason why democracies became popular (see for example the french revolution, or the boston tea party). A democracy is a system in which the residents of a country (directly or indirectly) decide on matters of government, like which taxes should be collected and how they should be spent.

venomsnake 10y ago

They are not theft, because a human does not have innate property rights(or any other kinds of rights for that matter). All your rights are provided and guaranteed by the state.

effie 10y ago
In the western society, people do have rights in fact, even if not granted formally by some government. This is because vast majority of other people respect those rights, without needing government to tell them. For example, most people accept my right to wear red shoes. Nobody really gave me that right; it is obvious. Similarly for the right to private ownership, the right to express myself and the right to move.
- venomsnake 10y ago
  State != government. Also try putting brown shirt in Germany on whose shoulder there is red band with white circle. In which circle inside there is black painting in the shape of bent cross ... and we will see exactly what the western government of Germany thinks of your fashion choices and your freedom to express yourself. Hint - your right to move may be somewhat in peril.
Tiksi 10y ago
By that reasoning, the state does not have an innate right or authority to provide or guarantee human rights. And really, it's human's that guarantee the state's rights, not the other way around. The state is an abstract concept that exists only because humans gave it that right at some point.
- venomsnake 10y ago
  Power gives right and authority. The only universal definition of state is monopoly over the use of force over any given territory.
  - Tiksi 10y ago
    Yes but that monopoly is granted by the humans in the territory, and humans are the ones that exercise the state's power.

wongarsu 10y ago

>Taxes are theft at the end of a gun and we have little choice in how they are used That's a big reason why democracies became popular (see for example the french revolution, or the boston tea party). A democracy is a system in which the residents of a country (directly or indirectly) decide on matters of government, like which taxes should be collected and how they should be spent.