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> If you scale the idea of 'country' down to the size of a tribe, then you can call it taxation, whithout any euphemism. No. "Taxes" in the modern sense implie
by adwn 5y ago
> If you scale the idea of 'country' down to the size of a tribe, then you can call it taxation, whithout any euphemism.
No. "Taxes" in the modern sense implies that the taxees [1] as a group receive something in return. Are the bedouins building and maintaining roads? I don't think so. "Pay us money or else we'll torture, rape, and/or kill you" alone doesn't qualify as taxes, but as extortion.
[1] Is that a real word? I use it to refer to the people who have to pay taxes.
- AdrianB1 5y agoThey do receive something in return, passage on that land. With taxation you don't have a choice on what you get for it, it is not a restaurant.
- coldtea 5y ago>"Taxes" in the modern sense implies that the taxees [1] as a group receive something in return. You'd be surprised.
- adwn 5y agoThere are very few states today which don't return something in exchange for taxes, be it infrastructure, welfare, or other governmental services.
- dash2 5y ago'Under anarchy, uncoordinated competitive theft by "roving bandits" destroys the incentive to invest and produce, leaving little for either the population or the bandits. Both can be better off if a bandit sets himself up as a dictator-a "stationary bandit" who monopolizes and rationalizes theft in the form of taxes. A secure autocrat has an encompassing interest in his domain that leads him to provide a peaceful order and other public goods...' Olson, 'Dictatorship, Democracy and Development', APSR 1993.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- ComputerGuru 5y agoProperty taxes would like to have a word.
- simonh 5y agoThe legal framework and justice system that registers and enforces property rights has to get paid for somehow.
- ComputerGuru 5y agoThat’s not what property taxes fund nor what they are ostensibly even partially used for. If I said deed registration fees, you would be correct.
- adwn 5y agoAs a house owner I pay property taxes. Some of that money is spent by the state to maintain the road which connects my garage to the rest of the world. Some of it is spent to finance the school my kids go to. And the school bus. And the roads beneath the school bus.
- cardiffspaceman 5y agoTaxpayers is a word I hear now and then.