I cannot tell the difference between a joke and a policy proposal. If you can then you have been duped … by supporters of government.
Source link: http://archive.mises.org/5051/the-fat-tax-fraud/
The Fat Tax Fraud
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It is unfortunate that the well-meaning supporters of the so-called “flat tax” cannot understand that it is direct taxation itself which is to blame for the violence, corruption and destruction wrought by the IRS.
Any tax is going to require agents to enforce it. Any tax is going to require intrusion into your life to enforce it. Any tax is going to reduce what you are able to accomplish with your life.
I have always thought a really good way to assess tax is to have a vote for and against government programs. If you vote for government programs, you will be taxed to fund it. If you vote against government programs, your tax for that program is zero.
And, Curt, your point was well taken, but I think you misread the headline.:~)
With a budget estimated at 2.7 trillion, the real budget includes the price tag on two wars and will include the price of guarding the Mexican border, that is $9000 per person of legal immigration status in the US per year. There is no EASY or EFFICIENT way to get each person to fork over the 9K.
This whole flat tax scheme although superior in concept to the current system will still have to get the 9K per person per year. And the only way to do this is to threaten, coerce, intimidate or use violence to extract the money and this requires bureaucracy to accomplish.
I just wish the flat tax folks would go away and sell their ideas to some other country.
I am sorry, all arguments apply to the fat tax as well.
Exactly, Yancey, Gov’t programs should be offered much in the same way most large business undertakings are: via IPO. I’ll be the first to say that the SEC/CFTC-regulated financial markets, in the U.S., are far from perfect. Though, the magnitude of increase in transparancy into the workings of our Gov’t, over the current “mushroom treatment” we receive today, would be revolutionary, in and of itself.
There is already a fat tax — its called Social Security. I used to be fat for 3 years (between 24 and 27) when I started eating mass starches and sugars. I went from 140lbs to 195lbs in that time. I felt terrible. I had a temper. I couldn’t focus. I was a slacker.
I reduced my starches and my sugars and my weight dropped, along with my blood pressure and bad cholesterol levels. My life expectancy should go up from there.
Yet most of the U.S. is fat. They’ll retire earlier, have more body aches and problems. They’ll need transplants and diabetic drugs. I’ll have to pay for it. So will the next generation.
I’m sick of seeing fat people everywhere and know that they just don’t care as long as the government takes care of them. On my back. Out of my pocket.
The tax does exist and it is paid for by those who live healthy lives and have no desire to finance the bad diets and overall welfare of those who just don’t care.
“Gov’t programs should be offered much in the same way most large business undertakings are…”
Right on! You know, some people think i’m against government. I’m really not; it’s just the coercive, non-voluntary element of it that i’m against. If government was just voluntary and contractual, you’d not hear a peep out of me in dissent.
Well done, Dada. I was similarly fat, but I’ve lost over 50 pounds by cutting out the sugars and starches just like you. I’m also more aware of my health, since I’m currently abroad and responsible for my own medical expenses.
I agree, Paul. We libertarians never tell the statists what to do. Why does their philosophy insist on involving us?
ARGH!
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