I'm sorry Newman, but this post is ridiculous in just about every way possible.
"Taxes are theft".
Anyone past about the age of 5 can understand why taxation is not "theft". ... If they wanted to understand, I mean.
Please tell me what your definition of "theft" is, then, if it's not "taking something that isn't yours".
"Taxes inhibit economic growth".
Taxation inhibits the income of some as it provides an income for others. And in the meantime, it builds roads and bridges and all kinds of physical and social infrastructure that EVERYONE needs to increase their economic condition.
And yet countless other goods and services are provided through markets without the need of an entire rent-seeking bureaucracy.
"Taxes distort markets".
Once we get past our absurd worship of the sacred 'markets' we might begin to recognize that not every commercial endeavor is desirable or even viable.
Successful entrepreneurs earn profits for doing just that: providing something desirable at lower costs than others (viability).
Much of the stuff we produce in this country we don't really need, and if the cost of producing it (after paying taxes, and a decent wage, and for a safe work environment, etc.) is too high, then we probably shouldn't be producing it at all.
Who made you in charge of deciding what people ought to have? And, if the cost of producing something is too high, then that something stops being offered in markets (i.e., the firm stops producing it or goes out of business)!
Because the fact is that the well being of the people involved in its production is more important than most of the junk we produce for the market. Market profits are not gods that must be served at any and all social or human cost.
I never said profits are "gods". They are merely a part of a good incentive structure and provide valuable information for whether or not some product or service is valued by consumers more than what it costs to produce it.
"You still must prove that that money is better spent by a bureaucrat".
As opposed to whom?
How about the victim of said robbery?
We live in a representative democracy. That means we elect people to represent us regarding decisions as to who pays taxes, how much they pay, and what the money is spent on.
Explain to me how we can delegate rights that we don't have in the first place. I can't take money out of your wallet, but I can elect somebody to do it for me?
If we don't like their decisions, we can always elect someone else. And given that most people re-elect the same people they elected the last time, we must assume that they are OK with the decisions their representatives have been making.
Either that or we've all been suckered into a very large scam.
If you are assuming that people should keep the tax money and decide for themselves how to spend it, well, that's patently absurd. We are all far too selfish and short sighted to ever spend our own money on things that we need as a collective society, and this has been proven true since the dawn of humankind.
People cooperate in markets via voluntary transactions just fine.
"You are telling people, "You do not have the right to earn/have/save/spend your own money because I can vote for people that know how to spend your money better than you."
Grown ups understand that they live in a society of human beings, to which their own well-being is integrally connected.
Agreed. Which is why setting up a massive burglary system is probably a bad idea. It brings out the worst of society and brings us all down to their level.
Grown ups understand that when their tax dollars are spent on roads that they will never or rarely ever actually travel on, that it's still a positive use of the money because the mobility those roads provide for others, helps everyone in the end.
Then why must these funds be forcibly taken?
This is why grown ups band together and form governments and endow those governments with the power to collect taxes and spend that money on things that a selfish individual would never pay for, but that society as a whole needs and wants to survive and thrive.
You do realize the same could be said for organized crime, right?
Grown ups recognize their own flaws, and so understand why this must be done.
If a child were made to pay taxes, he would likely cry and whine about how his money is being "stolen" from him because he has no sense of his responsibilities as members of any larger group of people. All he thinks about is himself. And what he wants. And what he thinks belongs only to him.
Like I said, then why must these taxes be forcibly taken?
But as we grow up we must learn that we are not each the little kings of our own little universes. We are in fact just one member within a whole group of people like ourselves who's lives and well-being are all tied to each other. And that the decisions we make will effect others, just as the decisions other's make will effect us. Learning to be an adult means learning to think about the welfare of the whole group, as well as our own.
I think the welfare of the whole group is maximized when folks come together and peaceably trade goods, services, and monies for the mutual benefit of both parties involved. When this propagates, economies grow.
Sadly, it's a lesson that has not been taught very well, lately, in the United States. There are a lot of spoiled children running around in adult bodies, behaving like they're little baby kings of their own little baby universes, owing nothing to anyone, and whining and crying like 5 year olds because someone else has taken away one of "their" toys.
Sharing and caring is good. Stealing is bad.
