3 ms·

Please explain how it's slavery.

• llimllib 18y ago
  As I understand the libertarian argument (I can't promise that this is what Prrometheus means), a sketch looks like this: Money is your property Your body is your property Slavery is foreign control of your body Taxes are foreign control of your money Thus, by the transitive property, taxes are like slavery
  • Prrometheus 18y ago
    I wasn't even going that far. I can see how people consider it hyperbole to call taxes "slavery" when someone is taking 40% of your earnings from you. You still have more than half of what you earned to do with as you will. But 95%? You're basically working solely for the good of whoever is stealing from you. It's true that they're not forcing you to work, but you either give over almost all your earnings or go without any benefit from your labor at all. I'm not the first to make the comparison, you know. I believe Frederick Douglas compared income taxes to slavery in his autobiography. Unfortunately, I listened to it on CD so I can't pull up the exact passage at the moment.
    • llimllib 18y ago
      > But 95%? You're basically working solely for the good of whoever is stealing from you. I don't disagree, and I'm a person of libertarian leanings. Although I grant I'm not as fully given over to it as you seem to be. I really was just trying to elucidate the sense in which I see many libertarians compare taxes to slavery.