Myths/taxation is theft/2016-08-09

Full text of a comment by Friedrich der Große arguing that "taxation is theft" in this post. Argument begins in second paragraph:

This, to me, is a "fireside" chat among smart people. Not meant to be rigorous or anything.

Taxation is theft -- yes it is. Anytime some person (Al Capone?) or an agency (the Government?) forcibly take something from you, whether you would agree with it or not, especially your precious Blood Sweat, and Tears, it's theft.

I was forced to pay taxes, and still I paid, out of pocket, for one of my kids to attend a University. The grant money was simply not enough. The government "stole" hundreds of thousands of dollars from me over the years and decades, and I still had to pay for part of my son's tuition.

What is wrong with this picture. And this is reality. Hell, at least where I live now the university would've actually been FREE. As what I would expect from paying taxes. But taxes, at least how they work in the US, is like paying "protection money" to the mob. Oh, you'll be "protected", all right -- but you are getting a negative return on your compulsory "investment".

As far as the picture and fence and all, it's just a silly metaphor. Too easy to poke holes in it. Like, for example, if the game is free, why aren't they sitting in the stands like everybody else? No seats left? They can stand in the aisles, no?

And here it's not perfect, either. You could easily be on a waiting list for your spot in the "free" universities here for 6 to 8 years, unless you're creme de la creme de la creme. Many do send their kids to neighboring countries and pay for their kids' education so they can get it already before being bound to rocking chairs. And even with that, those schools cost FAR LESS than the universities in the States....

But that's entirely the problem with taxation. You lose control over your money, and those who yank it from you spend your precious blood, sweat, and tears inefficiently. And don't even get me started with centralized banking and the like. Or the politics that goes into keeping certain individuals dependent on the system so that they will vote for you to maintain their dependence....

And that, my friend, is also reality. A reality that the graphic completely misses. A cacophony of failures in a system way too complicated to understand with a couple of sound bites. And fixing it? Good luck with that.