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>I'm not Russian oligarch, but just European medium size IT business I fail to see the difference, honestly. The OP, by running a business within a society wh

by pliny 14y ago

>I'm not Russian oligarch, but just European medium size IT business I fail to see the difference, honestly. The OP, by running a business within a society where many services essential to that business are provided by the government and paid for by the citizens and businesses within that society, profited directly from other people's taxes - but refused to contribute. I feel about as bad for him as I do for any of the other gangsters, Russian or otherwise.

natermer 14y ago
The people running the government, which uses the taxes to secure loans that they have no intention on paying back, in order to prop up a failing economy that is failing because of the rules and regulations that are setup to maximize the illigit profit for said people running government.. those are the real gangsters. Most large state governments amount to little more then just legalized mafias. Ran by political and family dynasties serving the purposes of whoever is capable of providing them the most money and power. IMHO, paying as little taxes as possible is a moral imperative.
mkdir 14y ago
I'm not sure why, but natermer's past several posts are all dead. He wrote: > The people running the government, which uses the taxes to secure loans that they have no intention on paying back, in order to prop up a failing economy that is failing because of the rules and regulations that are setup to maximize the illigit profit for said people running government.. those are the real gangsters. > Most large state governments amount to little more then just legalized mafias. Ran by political and family dynasties serving the purposes of whoever is capable of providing them the most money and power. > IMHO, paying as little taxes as possible is a moral imperative.
- pliny 14y ago
  I don't know what country OP lives in specifically, but what you quoted is wrong for the majority of European countries, who are neither tyrannical nor are they run by 'political and family dynasties'. Perhaps whoever you quoted was making a good case for not cooperating (taxes or otherwise) with tyrannical governments, but the situation in most European countries is that the government is democratic, progressive, and operates in the interests of it's citizens more than it does in the interests of the politicians themselves. The OP, unfortunately, doesn't get a choice of operating within a system where he benefits greatly from other people's effort and also paying taxes OR doing neither, he only gets to choose whether to contribute to a system that profits him massively or not. While choosing not to contribute, which is what OP did, is not technically stealing, it's ethically equivalent - I present as rationale the Kantian argument - if nobody paid taxes it is obvious that (within European countries) everybody would be worse off than if everybody paid taxes, therefore it is unethical for a single person to not pay taxes.
  - rplacd 14y ago
    Since the OP wasn't originally raised to be specifically responded to, I'll post my thoughts here as well - - there are plenty of ways to distribute "less taxes", and if "mafiaesque government" remains constant, then that implies that taxes just simply need be distributed less equitably to satisfy that condition.
- sbierwagen 14y ago
  I'm not sure why, but natermer's past several posts are all dead. He was hellbanned in this thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4276766 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4276766
  - etherael 14y ago
    I might be missing something obvious here as I only just woke up but that thread looks entirely innocuous and uncontroversial to anyone who doesn't accept the constant refrains to the necessity of the state, is that really a position that will get you hellbanned here?
  - guard-of-terra 14y ago
    They now use hellban when they have nothing to say? How sad.
gurvinder 14y ago
"but refused to contribute." - Where did you get this? Why you say he refused to contribute? He had operations in Cyprus with employees in Cyprus, He was not operating in one country while using bank accounts of Cyprus.
- pliny 14y ago
  I read some other pages in that thread and I think you are right, I assumed that since he claimed he would move his money to an account in the Caribbeans that the Cyprus account was used for tax evasion. If he is a Cypriot, or his account was used for managing a business in Cyprus rather than avoiding taxes in his home state, then he was just a victim of bad politics and bad financial management.

by pliny 14y ago

natermer 14y ago

The people running the government, which uses the taxes to secure loans that they have no intention on paying back, in order to prop up a failing economy that is failing because of the rules and regulations that are setup to maximize the illigit profit for said people running government.. those are the real gangsters. Most large state governments amount to little more then just legalized mafias. Ran by political and family dynasties serving the purposes of whoever is capable of providing them the most money and power. IMHO, paying as little taxes as possible is a moral imperative.

mkdir 14y ago

I'm not sure why, but natermer's past several posts are all dead. He wrote: > The people running the government, which uses the taxes to secure loans that they have no intention on paying back, in order to prop up a failing economy that is failing because of the rules and regulations that are setup to maximize the illigit profit for said people running government.. those are the real gangsters. > Most large state governments amount to little more then just legalized mafias. Ran by political and family dynasties serving the purposes of whoever is capable of providing them the most money and power. > IMHO, paying as little taxes as possible is a moral imperative.

pliny 14y ago
I don't know what country OP lives in specifically, but what you quoted is wrong for the majority of European countries, who are neither tyrannical nor are they run by 'political and family dynasties'. Perhaps whoever you quoted was making a good case for not cooperating (taxes or otherwise) with tyrannical governments, but the situation in most European countries is that the government is democratic, progressive, and operates in the interests of it's citizens more than it does in the interests of the politicians themselves. The OP, unfortunately, doesn't get a choice of operating within a system where he benefits greatly from other people's effort and also paying taxes OR doing neither, he only gets to choose whether to contribute to a system that profits him massively or not. While choosing not to contribute, which is what OP did, is not technically stealing, it's ethically equivalent - I present as rationale the Kantian argument - if nobody paid taxes it is obvious that (within European countries) everybody would be worse off than if everybody paid taxes, therefore it is unethical for a single person to not pay taxes.
- rplacd 14y ago
  Since the OP wasn't originally raised to be specifically responded to, I'll post my thoughts here as well - - there are plenty of ways to distribute "less taxes", and if "mafiaesque government" remains constant, then that implies that taxes just simply need be distributed less equitably to satisfy that condition.
sbierwagen 14y ago
I'm not sure why, but natermer's past several posts are all dead. He was hellbanned in this thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4276766 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4276766
- etherael 14y ago
  I might be missing something obvious here as I only just woke up but that thread looks entirely innocuous and uncontroversial to anyone who doesn't accept the constant refrains to the necessity of the state, is that really a position that will get you hellbanned here?
- guard-of-terra 14y ago
  They now use hellban when they have nothing to say? How sad.

gurvinder 14y ago

"but refused to contribute." - Where did you get this? Why you say he refused to contribute? He had operations in Cyprus with employees in Cyprus, He was not operating in one country while using bank accounts of Cyprus.

pliny 14y ago
I read some other pages in that thread and I think you are right, I assumed that since he claimed he would move his money to an account in the Caribbeans that the Cyprus account was used for tax evasion. If he is a Cypriot, or his account was used for managing a business in Cyprus rather than avoiding taxes in his home state, then he was just a victim of bad politics and bad financial management.