{"id":29253,"date":"2012-04-23T22:47:45","date_gmt":"2012-04-24T02:47:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/countingpips.com\/forex-news\/2012\/04\/how-taxes-destroy-society-rather-than-enhance-it\/"},"modified":"2012-04-23T22:47:45","modified_gmt":"2012-04-24T02:47:45","slug":"how-taxes-destroy-society-rather-than-enhance-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/2012\/04\/23\/how-taxes-destroy-society-rather-than-enhance-it\/","title":{"rendered":"How Taxes Destroy Society, Rather Than Enhance It"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By <a href=\"http:\/\/www.MoneyMorning.com.au\" target=\"_blank\">MoneyMorning.com.au<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>&#8220;Taxes are what we pay for civilised society.&#8221;<\/em> &#8211; Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. U.S. Supreme Court Judge<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Rubbish.<\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s nothing civilised about <strong>taxes<\/strong>.  And in fact, we&#8217;ll argue that taxes actually destroy society rather than enhance it.<\/p>\n<p><span><\/span><br \/>\nSo we prefer the comments by Albert Jay Nock in <em>Our Enemy The State<\/em> (your editor&#8217;s new favourite book):<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>&#8220;On the contrary, it is clear that whatever party-competition we shall see hereafter will be on the same terms as heretofore.  It will be a competition for control and management, and it would naturally issue in still closer centralisation, still further extension of the bureaucratic principle, and still larger concessions to subsidised voting-power.  This course would be strictly historical, and is furthermore to be expected as lying in the nature of things, as it so obviously does.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Indeed, it is by this means that the aim of the collectivists seems likeliest to be attained in this country; this aim being the complete extinction of social power through absorption by the State.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>It&#8217;s a long quote.  But worth it&#8230; in our opinion.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, you may not agree.  In fact, whenever we write anything that&#8217;s anti-taxation, anti-government or free market, <em>Money Morning<\/em> subscription cancellations spike higher.<\/p>\n<p>It seems most don&#8217;t like it when we touch a raw nerve.  Proof of that is in the feedback scores from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.portphillippublishing.com.au\/research\/After-America\/n1afterameravprm.php?code=F9ACN380\" target=\"_blank\">the &#8220;After America&#8221; conference<\/a>.  It shows the audience disliked our presentation the most.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps it was what we said&#8230;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>&#8220;It&#8217;s not that China is moving towards capitalism.  It&#8217;s that Western Welfare States are becoming more centrally planned.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Western democracy has its own breed of thugs &#8211; politicians, bureaucrats and vested interests &#8211; who try to exert&#8230; power over individuals.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Before your very eyes, the whole world is slowly but surely turning towards communism and central state control.  As you can tell, I despise these economies and political systems.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>It shows that even those who follow our advice closely can&#8217;t always cope with what we say.<\/p>\n<p>But why not check out what offended so many people for yourself.  You can find out how to access the video covering both days of the &#8220;After America&#8221; conference by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.portphillippublishing.com.au\/research\/After-America\/n1afterameravprm.php?code=F9ACN380\" target=\"_blank\">clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Plus you&#8217;ll get to see which stocks and sectors the Port Phillip Publishing editorial team are most bullish (and bearish) on for 2012.  <a href=\"http:\/\/www.portphillippublishing.com.au\/research\/After-America\/n1afterameravprm.php?code=F9ACN380\" target=\"_blank\">Find out more here&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n<h3><center>How the State Destroys Society Through Taxes<\/h3>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n<p>But getting back to the argument on taxes, it&#8217;s undeniable that <a href=\"http:\/\/www.moneymorning.com.au\/20120419\/all-transactions-to-be-conducted-in-the-presence-of-a-tax-collector.html\">taxes destroy society<\/a> rather than enhance it.<\/p>\n<p>Think back to your childhood&#8230; or your parents&#8217; childhood.  Back then, there were genuine communities.  People looked out for their family and their neighbours.<\/p>\n<p>If a neighbour was in a spot of bother, the local community would hold a whip-round for spare change or unwanted food and clothing.<\/p>\n<p>But as soon as the State gains a stranglehold, individuals are far less likely to chip in.  Not because they don&#8217;t care, but because the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dailyreckoning.com.au\/australian-tax-running-government-at-a-profit\/2012\/03\/21\/\">government has taken taxes<\/a>, it leaves individuals with less disposable income.<\/p>\n<p>But that&#8217;s not all.  Taxation and the Welfare State are used to brainwash the public into thinking it&#8217;s not their place to help&#8230; after all, they&#8217;ve outsourced &#8220;helping&#8221; to someone else&#8230; namely, the government.<\/p>\n<p>You saw a similar reaction following the Queensland floods.  But not before human nature kicked in first.  People helped&#8230; they provided food, shelter, clothing and money to those in need.<\/p>\n<p>But then, as always, the stinking government took control and ruined everything.  Not satisfied with the voluntary good nature of humans, the government decided it must <em>force<\/em> people to help.<\/p>\n<p>The result?  People who may have donated voluntarily, thought twice about it.  Rather than asking where their neighbours are for help, they asked, &#8220;What&#8217;s the government going to do about this?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s the same wherever <a href=\"http:\/\/www.moneymorning.com.au\/20120404\/financial-repression-why-every-bank-will-soon-be-a-tax-collector-for-every-government-everywhere.html\">government pokes its nose<\/a> where it&#8217;s not needed.  And it&#8217;s the same regardless of which party is elected.<\/p>\n<h3><center>Taxes and the &#8220;Criminal Class&#8221;<\/h3>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n<p>Remember, contrary to belief, <em>no-one voted for the current system of welfare states seen around the world.<\/em>  They happened by degrees.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s what makes government so sinister and evil.<\/p>\n<p>One group enters government and offers favours to its supporters&#8230; paid for by the taxes of others.<\/p>\n<p>The next group that enters government needs to reward its supporters, but without alienating too many others.  So it keeps what it can of the previous government&#8217;s plans and then adds its own.<\/p>\n<p>Or as Albert Jay Nock puts it:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>&#8220;[Governments] meet from time to time, decide what can be &#8216;got away with,&#8217; and how, and who is to do it; and the electorate votes according to their prescriptions.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The outcome is perpetual growth in the size of government.  And therefore, perpetual growth in government spending and taxation.<\/p>\n<p>Bottom line: Given a choice, if people living under a truly free market, with limited <a href=\"http:\/\/www.moneymorning.com.au\/20120418\/how-you-can-use-government-intervention-to-profit-on-the-stock-market.html\">government intervention<\/a> could vote to keep their system, or vote for an exact replica of today&#8217;s bloated welfare state, there&#8217;s not a man or woman alive who would vote for change.<\/p>\n<p>With one exception: the bureaucrats and hangers-on who would see the money they could make and the influence they would hold from it.<\/p>\n<p>To finish, we&#8217;ll leave the last words to Mr. Nock:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>&#8220;Taking the State wherever found, striking into its history at any point, one sees no way to differentiate the activities of its founders, administrators and beneficiaries from those of a professional-criminal class.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>Cheers<br \/>\nKris<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>P.S.<\/strong> Don&#8217;t forget to check out how you can get your hands on the &#8220;After America&#8221; DVD.  Full details are available <a href=\"http:\/\/www.portphillippublishing.com.au\/research\/After-America\/n1afterameravprm.php?code=F9ACN380\" target=\"_blank\">here&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.portphillippublishing.com.au\/research\/After-America\/n1afterameravprm.php?code=F9ACN380\" target=\"_blank\">The Conference of the Year &#8220;After America&#8221; DVD<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.moneymorning.com.au\/20120409\/why-you-must-speculate.html\" target=\"_blank\">Why You MUST Speculate<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.moneymorning.com.au\/20120406\/disruptive-technology-stocks-for-smart-small-cap-investors.html\" target=\"_blank\">Disruptive Technology Stocks For Smart Small-Cap Investors<\/a><\/p>\n<div>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/MoneyMorningAustralia?a=k6MYLN535Sc:bN_b3mw3-Os:yIl2AUoC8zA\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/MoneyMorningAustralia?d=yIl2AUoC8zA\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/MoneyMorningAustralia?a=k6MYLN535Sc:bN_b3mw3-Os:V_sGLiPBpWU\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/MoneyMorningAustralia?i=k6MYLN535Sc:bN_b3mw3-Os:V_sGLiPBpWU\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/MoneyMorningAustralia?a=k6MYLN535Sc:bN_b3mw3-Os:gIN9vFwOqvQ\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/MoneyMorningAustralia?i=k6MYLN535Sc:bN_b3mw3-Os:gIN9vFwOqvQ\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a>\n<\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~r\/MoneyMorningAustralia\/~4\/k6MYLN535Sc\" height=\"1\" width=\"1\" \/><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/feedproxy.google.com\/~r\/MoneyMorningAustralia\/~3\/k6MYLN535Sc\/why-taxes-destroy-society-rather-than-enhance-it.html\" target=\"_blank\">How Taxes Destroy Society, Rather Than Enhance It <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By MoneyMorning.com.au &#8220;Taxes are what we pay for civilised society.&#8221; &#8211; Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. U.S. Supreme Court Judge Rubbish. There&#8217;s nothing civilised about taxes. And in fact, we&#8217;ll argue that taxes actually destroy society rather than enhance it. So we prefer the comments by Albert Jay Nock in Our Enemy The State (your editor&#8217;s &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/2012\/04\/23\/how-taxes-destroy-society-rather-than-enhance-it\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;How Taxes Destroy Society, Rather Than Enhance It&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29253\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}