Why are taxes bad?

1. 74

   Jeff Berndtposted 15 years ago

   Is it because they take wealth away from the person who earned or created said wealth?

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2. 71

   ledefensetechposted 15 years ago

   Taxes are bad because it takes capital out of the economy.  Without capital investment, there can be no economic growth.  In Western democracies, legislators and other politicians love taxes because it allows them to redistribute capital in such a way that it gives them votes during an election.  This is otherwise known as corruption.

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3. 60

   Evan G Rogersposted 15 years ago

   Taxes are bad because they are taken by force. It is impossible for them to generate wealth.
   
   Let's think about this in a slightly different way.
   
   Let's say you had the option between having $30, or a basketball, an ice cream cone, a cup of coffee, and a box of spaghetti (let's assume that the items all cost a total of $30... which would you rather have: the items? or the money?
   
   I'm pretty sure that everyone would choose the money. Why? Because you can USE that money to buy ANYTHING, even the items listed above.
   
   Now... how does this relate to taxes? What would you rather have? 50% of the money you earned? or the things that the government chose to spend your money on? Would you rather have $15k? or a chunk of a road built somewhere?
   
   That's point one.
   
   Point two is that the money is taken aggressively from you. Any system where someone gets to take your money away from you at the point of a gun and the threat of jail is NOT a freedom loving system.
   
   Let's think of it this way. Do you think the US should be at war in Iraq? If you answer "yes", then go ahead and pay the taxes - fine, whatever!
   
   But! If you answer "no", then why do you have to pay the taxes? Don't you have the right to free speech and to NOT pay for war and death? Don't you have the right to say "no, i'm not going to pay for these things"? If you say "of course you have the right... it's just that you'll go to jail at the point of a gun for USING that right!"... then... you're insane.
   
   and the third argument would be that they can NOT generate wealth to the optimum efficiency of a free-market.
   
   Let's think about it this way - you want to drive on a road. What's the best way to do it?
   
   1- someone decides that they could make money by building a road between X and Y, and so they take money out of a bank, build the road, and then charge people money to use it?
   
   or...
   
   2- the money to build a road that may or may not be economically feasible* is taken by force by police (the police need paychecks!) from the population, then it's sent to a big coffer of tax payer money. Then some guy who has to be elected in a big huge election that costs millions gets to decide how to spend the money. He is not risking his own money to build it, and he likely knows a few friends who want a bit of the dough. They then ask companies to "bid" on the best price to build the road - but these companies already know how much the people can spend, and so inflate their numbers artificially...
   
   ... anyway, you get the point.
   
   *(we'll never know: how can you know if it's impossible to make a profit from the trip? maybe it's better to just use different roads already in existence!)
   
   Taxes are just an inefficient, bone-headed, aggressive, tyrannical way of doing things!! That's why they're evil!

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