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Do you think you have the right to something that someone else has to work to produce? That's what Rand was against. You don't have a right to use force to caus
by jes 15y ago
Do you think you have the right to something that someone else has to work to produce? That's what Rand was against. You don't have a right to use force to cause someone else to work for your benefit.
- sshumaker 15y agoThere is a pretty clear logical flaw here. Nothing is produced in a vacuum. Your ability to create, to generate wealth, is heavily reliant on the infrastructure and services provided by your society (electricity, defense, roads, education, etc). In other words, if Bill Gates had been born in Somalia, chances are he wouldn't be nearly as successful. Taxation is how you repay your debt to the society that enabled your success.
- jes 15y agoActually, Rand's view was that government wouldn't provide electricity, roads and education. These goods and services would be private and paid for by the people who wanted to use them. Defense was a different matter, in that in her view, that was one of the legitimate functions of government -- protecting the individual rights of the citizens. Rand acknowledged that every generation stands on the shoulders of the productive people who came before them. Yes, if Bill Gates was born in Somalia he probably wouldn't have followed the path he did. If Somalia was a nation where individual rights were respected, as Rand advocated, everyone in Somalia would be much better off.
- philwelch 15y agoI don't think it's best to frame the question in terms of rights. If you're asking whether it's morally justified to tax millionaires in order to feed and house the homeless, my answer is yes.