Happy Tax Freedom Day!

Congrats America! Today is the day that we have "technically" earned enough wages to pay all the government tax, but the CBO calculated that actually if you factor in the $1.5 trillion deficit (almost forgot about that little detail) tax freedom day is actually another 45 days away, on May 29th. But thats not that bad... working half the year just to pay the government, is it? I mean think about all the great things they're doing for us: buying "toxic" assets (what does that even mean?), buying trillions of dollars of failed mortgages and government securities (I believe the Onion ran a piece on this kind of spending...), firing CEOs, and who can forget Bo? ( I sure hope Obama kept his promise of keeping it a purebred, because God knows thats what we care about...)

Well maybe those things aren't quite working out so great, but at least the state is spending the rest of our tax dollars wisely... aren't they? Then how come in Hawaii residents used their own money and labor to fix a park that the government said would take millions of dollars and years to fix? Maybe it has something to do with the fact that private enterprise is both cost efficient and actually gets the job done.

The Reason Foundation has put together a couple videos for tax day to remind us what we're paying for: "Tax Facts to Make Your Head Explode" and "3 Great Reasons to Pay Your Taxes".

I already blogged about why taxes are legal theft here, so please read that to get my basic overview on how the government legally steals from you. Just think about it, if I came up to you, demanded 30% of your money, and pulled a gun on you if you didn't comply I would be thrown in jail as a petty crook! So how can we give the state power we as indivduals do not possess? We can't, it doesn't make moral, ethical, or logic sense whatsoever, but we accept it anyways.

The State is force, the State is aggression. I do not care what services they provide (they all suck anyways) the simple truth is they act with force and not by choice. Would anyone in their right mind actually pay their taxes if they had a real choice? Hell no! Everyone knows half the money is wasted on needless bureaucracy and after all of that we still get a half finished product.

Arguments for taxes I've heard have included: "If the government didn't provide roads, schools, or police we wouldn't have them", or "I don't mind paying taxes for health care and schools, I just don't support things like the War". Well both arguments are flawed. It's ridiculous to think the government is the only entity that could provide these services. If that's true we wouldn't have private schools, private highways, or private security... which we have them all and they provide vastly better service. And to say you support some things but not others the government does is to say you don't support the government at all. Because you are partly realizing the lack of choice that comes from forced taxes, and that the government has total control over your money and how it spends it. We must follow this to its logical end that the State is aggression and is no better than a gang or the Mafia.

Well this is not the most well put together blog post, but I'm glad I got some thoughts down. I also think I've set a new personal record for links (go me). Please comment and read! Thanks.