In case the meme is too small to read on your screen, it reads in the top frame, “Do any of your friends ever talk about how we need more taxation?” and in the bottom frame he responds, “Shit no, man. You’d get your ass kicked for saying something like that.”
I found it amusing, in the abstract, and although my friends are certainly against taxation, they are also fans of the non aggression principle so ass kicking in response to that is a lot less likely than this other meme which I think is more accurate (though you have to have seen The Mandalorian to really appreciate it). It reads:
Fellow Libertarians: Taxation is Theft.
Every Libertarian within earshot: This is the way.
A long time friend commented on the meme:
Such a great set of questions that prompted this post. Before I continue, I want to clarify that I have lived below poverty level for the better part of 2 decades after having had a career in tech culminating in being within the top 5% of earners in the country. It is ironic to note I feel more strongly about these points as a poor person than I did as someone of means.
With that said, let’s start with the following thought: Redistribution of wealth justifies “taxation is theft” because there’s no reason to tax unless you want to redistribute wealth.
Even if you can get past the fact that we are conscripted to pay taxes under the threat of incarceration which itself is the basis of the idea of “taxation is theft” in a very reasoned way, you have to then want the government to redistribute wealth. I do not. And if you do, I have to wonder what makes you think the government has more right to steal your money from you than you have to keep it.
I do not think the government has any right to engage in this ongoing thievery. Now some would say that’s government’s purpose, but as a non-statist, that simply isn’t so for me. I think the government should be limited in as much as possible as that is what empowers the people the most. Yes, I do favor some attention to the commons which includes infrastructure like roads as well as protection from enemies both foreign and domestic. It’s strange to say in 2020, but I do support some amount of police and military as well as courts for criminal and civil disputes, but only in a minimal sense and perhaps not with the far reaching implications these groups may have today. To be clear, as a firm 2nd Amendment supporter, I also support citizens having access to all the weapons your average cop or soldier has as well. I do not think the government should be able to overpower the people on the whole; and I do support them specifically overpowering bad actors, the definition of which is, at best, a complex subject left to another post.
All of this is to arrive at the answer of to the final question: the middle ground is limited taxes to support limited government programs.
Which brings me to my second point: Why limited programs?
Look around and analyze the government and their efficiency. I personally have contracted on site at various government agencies including The State Department, Pentagon, Department of Defense and various other local, state, and federal organizations. In my countless hours of exposure to these groups, my consistent experience led me to believe the government is inefficient. In fact, I don’t think the government encourages efficiency or even values it in it’s workers. Sad perspective, but certainly one that matches my experience. Thus, as someone who doesn’t believe the government to value efficiency and as someone who holds that as a high value, I certainly don’t want to support them having access to more resources which will undoubtedly be a means of them wasting things they shouldn’t have in the first place… because again, forcing people to give you money at gun point is why we say taxation is theft.
Which leads to my third point: Taxes encourage government programs.
For my part, I think government trying to run programs is like putting the wolf in charge of the hen house. Have you seen a wolf eat fowl? I have. They’re damn efficient at it, bones and all. From where I sit, that’s about the only thing government is efficient at: wasting the money they steal from people. Well… except when it comes to killing — at that they are equally efficient.
Whilst I know this is an optimistic perspective, I believe truly and deeply that humans want to be good people. I also believe we could achieve more through voluntarism than through force. As taxation is theft, it is also force, not voluntarism.
I believe in our collective power to create goodness in the world. I want a system that leverages that, not one that ostensibly says humans can’t be trusted to do anything good so let’s force them to pretend they are which I believe to be the essence of taxation.
Nothing about that calls out the best in us in my opinion.
Humans are built to thrive as we cooperate and co-create together. Government isn’t about that. Government is lowest common denominator. It’s — how do they say it these days… “it’s basic”…
It’s like barely passing a class; it’s definitely not our A+ work as a species.
Is the government about empowerment? No.
Education? Definitely no.
So called “health care”? Oh my word — definitely not a little.
Government has people so messed up they think that “health care” actually means “health insurance” and I don’t think that could be further from the truth. It’s an abstraction of an abstraction.
My mind is constantly boggled that people want corrupt politicians in charge of our health care. Honestly, I have to wonder: have you thought that through? Do you trust our government to “serve and protect” while you’re out there claiming “defund the police” because it surely seems you don’t? And yet these same people, best as I can tell, support government programs like universal health care that puts these same corrupt politicians at the helm of the system that is supposed to keep us healthy? What kind of backward logic is that?
Of course, the real issues is our system cares neither about ‘health’ nor ‘care’. It is a sick reactive triage and it isn’t designed to provide actual support for holistic wellness. Surprise surprise — Not!
Personally, I don’t support an alleged “health care” system that isn’t focused on a ground up approach that includes considerations around food, clothing, shelter, nutrition, water, stress management, mental health, sleep wellness, and proactive practices that assist in supporting a life that is health-FULL, like exercise and meditations as examples. Our system isn’t working well and trying to continue to add on to an already broken system is ineffective. Thus, when taxation is theft and it is supporting broken systems, that makes even less sense because it’s about piling on to already broken systems and glossing over the inadequacies of them while throwing more money at them rather than solutions. And if everything else I’ve written isn’t enough, one more case in point: the homeless budget in SF keeps rising and…. so does the homeless population. It’s not like the city implements sustainable solutions like some citizens have suggested.