06/26/2017 / By Lance D Johnson
The U.S. federal tax code, spanning approximately 74,000 pages, is an embarrassment to common sense and a mockery of freedom. When the income tax began in 1913, it was roughly 400 pages long and had a top tax bracket of 7 percent. Today the income tax generates over 13 trillion annually and penalizes earners’ income up to 39.6 percent!
Attempts to make the tax system fair, flat, or simple are never realized and do not deal with the root of the problem. Taxation is based on coercion and force. Taxation requires that the fruit of one’s labor be confiscated and redistributed somewhere else.
Taxation is not compassionate nor is it charitable giving. No one gets to choose where their money is spent; therefore, it is wasted by politicians who are basically given a blank check. This concentrates money and power into the hands of a few people who feel entitled to spend money they didn’t have to earn. This creates the perfect breeding ground for corruption, sociopathic behavior, and crony capitalism, since special interests can then seek favors from politicians.
What if you got to choose where your tax dollars are spent? This would instantly make the government accountable to the will of the people. If government wasted money or provided no significant result, then the people could recognize that and redirect the government to spend the money more wisely.
Since the income tax is rooted in coercion and force, its sheer existence contributes to the moral depravation of society. The income tax ensures that the government receives unlimited supply. It doesn’t matter how inefficient the government is or how much it wastes. It can always require more from the people, who must continuously choke up unlimited revenue. There is no oversight to see if a government spending program actually solves social problems. There is no way to measure the amount of charity that is blocked by government’s confiscation of wealth.
Businesses and charities, on the other hand, must live with the consequences of how their money is spent. They are held accountable by natural forces in the marketplace. They must provide quality goods and services at the lowest cost. The natural competition in the marketplace helps eliminate waste so that business can operate smarter, faster, and ultimately be more charitable.
Taxation is not democratic. People do not get to “vote” with their dollars because their money is swept up in the tax scheme and used without accountability or discretion of the actual people who earned that money. Taxation is the antithesis to individual liberty. People could spend their own money on more efficient charities and organizations that actually strive to meet social needs. If the government wasn’t confiscating, redistributing and wasting wealth, then individuals, charities, and churches could rightfully step in and help where there are real needs.
Taxation has sucked so many individuals, businesses, and charities dry, stifling real efforts of giving. Taxation ultimately pushes out compassion. Knowing they are taxed, people feel that their responsibility to help one another is already met. Taxation is pushing out real giving, where compassionate people feel a moral responsibility to help their fellow brothers and sisters.
This is why the tax system must become a voluntary system. Wouldn’t you like to decide how your tax dollars are spent? Join the Tax Revolution Institute and help make the world a better place. Voluntarism is the future of working together as a society.
Sources include:
Tagged Under: abuse, corruption, fraud, taxation, theft, voluntaryism, waste, wealth redistribution