We've been over this before. Taxes are not theft when they're voluntary, but involuntary taxes are taken by force and are thus are theft. Income tax is theft. Entry fee for National Parks is not theft.

You made a common sense remark here: "To consume these goods and services without paying for them is itself theft" - That is fair and correct. But, all taxes to pay for those goods and services should be voluntary and in the form of user fees, excise tax and tariffs. For instance, our income tax isn't supposed to pay for roads and highways. Instead we have a user fee in the form of a gasoline tax, and the more you drive, the more you use the roads, therefore the more you pay. It's a system that just makes sense.

In the States, we pay a lot of Federal income tax - a lot. We also pay state income tax, but it's not even close. It's funny because the individual states we live in take a much, much smaller amount of income tax, but they are the places we live. I mean, yes, we live in the nation, but truly you live in the state itself. That's where you spend most of your years, and you use most of the government's "goods and services", right? Why is it that we must pay an uneven amount larger to our Federal government?

Because, the Federal government takes the largest slice so it can spend 56% of it maintaining military hegemony. That's not right.

That's not really my argument against income tax, but it is something most people don't think about. They just see the extremely large and unbalanced Federal income tax as something that is necessary.


In reply to this comment by qualm:
Myth: Taxes are theft.

Fact: Taxes are payments for the public goods and services you consume.

Taxes are part of an agreement that voters make with government, a contract in which citizens agree to exchange their money for the government's goods and services. To consume these goods and services without paying for them is itself theft, and is rightly punished as breach of contract. Some may object that they have not agreed to the contract, but if so, then they must not consume the government's goods and services. Furthermore, contract by majority rule is better than by minority rule, one-person rule or anarchy (which results in kill-or-be-killed). Opponents of taxation under democracy are therefore challenged to find an improvement on democracy.

Your intervention: http://blog.videosift.com/blankfist/I-m-staging-a-statist-intervention-on-the-Sift

Broken record. You've posted this a number of times, I believe.

In reply to this comment by qualm:
http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=54586159-12be-442c-810d-020982d8becb

Definitely! Many good photos in that search. Philosophers always get the best pictures of themselves.

In reply to this comment by qualm:
I see Jonny has taken the initiative. Hopefully you can find something!

Congratulations! Your comment has just received enough votes from the community to earn you 1 Power Point. Thank you for your quality contribution to VideoSift.

Your icon involves a face I find highly compelling. That is a great photograph! I'm sorry for asking, but do you know if there is a larger version posted anywhere I could sneak onto my reference pile?

In reply to this comment by qualm:
There was a major malfunction. Check sift talk for lucky's explanation.

You might want to re-reregister and correct the typo in your name. You've spelled 'curiosity' incorrectly. (Unless you prefer it that way for some reason.)




THANKS! I was seriously scratching my head wondering why someone would hack my Videosift account... I should have looked at sifttalk first.

Actually my username is spelled correctly. What seems like a long time ago, I joined my first board. I was so curious and ended up spelling the word incorrectly for my first username. Now that username is a private reminder that I always have more to learn, that I will always make misteps, etc, etc.

Thanks again.

I downvote your comment, so you downvote the vid? If you thought it was downvote-worthy, why didn't you do that originally? Fucking weak, dude. Weak.

In reply to this comment by qualm:
Q: What does a Grateful Dead fan say when the acid finally wears off?

A: This band sucks!

Thanks for the heads up.

Those Canadians have a lot of heart.

In reply to this comment by qualm:
Maybe you haven't heard this one: http://www.videosift.com/video/Pacing-the-Cage-Bruce-Cockburn

ROFL!!!!!!!!!!!!

In reply to this comment by qualm:
It was just last month that Anne Coulter fell and broke his jaw.

Congratulations! Your comment has just received enough votes from the community to earn you 1 Power Point. Thank you for your quality contribution to VideoSift.

The other option is moving out at 16... as it happens, that's when I moved from Israel to the US, or sit in prison for a few years, or get pregnant, or go to school first. It's not just religious, but good point

In reply to this comment by qualm:
I'm fairly certain the poster is simply pointing out that all Israeli citizens over 18 are soldiers or reservists -- except for those with exemption for religious reasons.

Hey there! Are you still around? I'd love to give http://www.videosift.com/video/Stan-Rogers-One-Warm-Line another go, although if you are, I'd have to insist that you do it, since you tried posting it originally! This is something that deserves to be around!

Amen to that!

In reply to this comment by qualm:
Of course some of you realize that taking pleasure in videos where people are significantly injured makes one a complete scumbag...

That's a shame. Just watched the film again & felt inspired.

In reply to this comment by qualm:
I posted this a year ago. I think it got three votes.