LogFAQs > #893756527

Mike_Stanton posted...

PhilKenSebben posted...

In the case of a democratic republic like the U.S. It's okay for the government to collect taxes because they use the money to, among other things; build and repair infrastructure, pay the salary of government workers ( including but not limited to the military, forest service, the president, etc ), and fund public schools. Not to mention the institution and enforcement of law and the people's representation in their own governance. This doesn't mean that all governments carry these out perfectly, but that's the basic idea of it.

What someone does with stolen money doesn't make it not stolen though. If the government would simply charge rent on land, and cutback on the many public services that it provides then they'll have the revenue to pay government workers, implement emergency services, and public courts (which is what I think the government's role should be limited to).

I feel like you're not quite getting my point. Which is, if there weren't taxes you would probably still be spending this money on the same things.
If there was no public school system you would be forced to use some of the money you pay in taxes to put yourself or your children through school. If there was
no public infrastructure program you would most likely be forced by the other people in your community
to pony up some dough to help fix roads that everyone uses.
What taxes do in theory is make things simpler: everyone pays the government, and in turn, when people need money for say,
disaster relief, or education, the government is right there with all the necessary funds and manpower to get it done.

If someone doesn't want to pay taxes they don't have to pay them,
but they would face consequences from the government and their community because they take part in public programs.
In a nutshell, it's like if your in a group that orders pizza and agrees to pay equally, but once it arrives
one person doesn't want to pay. That's fine, they don't have to pay, but if they try to eat some pizza people are gonna be pissed.

As Joelypoely put it: they're not stealing, they're simply redistributing the collective wealth.

Also, local governments ( such as states or counties in the U.S. ) do essentially charge rent on land, it's called the property tax. And citizens would probably get pretty mad if the government started rolling back public programs. That wouldn't be fun for either party involved.
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