Taxation is theft, right?
I firmly believe that it is but I just read something today that made me reconsider this idea.
I’ve been fascinated with the idea of creating my own country for years. During my recent research into Seasteading I bought the classic book “How to start your own country” by Erwin S. Strauss A fascinating book that any freedom loving person should own.
How to start your own country – Erwin S. Strauss
Erwin covers the many ways one may go about creating your own country including declaring your home a sovereign nation. Peter Griffin actually did this in an episode of Family Guy and called it Petoria. It didn’t go so well for him. He should have read “How to start your own country” before raising his flag. (I’ll be covering how Peter could have used Erwin’s advice to create a better outcome in a future post).
Erwin doesn’t pretend that you’ll be able to flaunt the law of the government surrounding your plot of land. Peter Griffin learned this the hard way. By declaring your home a sovereign nation is an easy way to as Erwin retire “dip your toe in the new country water”. And you get to create your own flag!
Taxation is one of the main reasons why people want to start their own nation. The power to tax is at the heart of the nation state. And taxation becomes the number issue if you do declare your home an independent nation within the territory claimed by another nation. The problem isn’t you collecting taxes from yourself and your family.
Borders mainly exist to delineate who gets to take your money in the form of taxes.
If you refuse to pay your taxes what will happen. The exact same thing that would happen if you don’t pay your taxes now as a citizen. The U.S. government will use force to collect it. We all know trying to use force to repel the unlimited police/ war machine of he U.S. Federal government is not an option.
If you declare your home an independent nation inside of the U.S., you instantly have the largest most deadly military and police force in the as your not so friendly neighbor. How do you defend against them seizing your property or committing violence against you?
All nations have a defense budget. Why? A large part has to do with the military industrial complex and the psychopathy that propels politicians to wage war. But the stated purpose of a defense budget is to keep the lives and property of the “citizens” safe within its borders.
As a microscopic, poor, ally-less nation how could you possibly survive? According to Erwin your best option to defend your person and property from harm is to pay your taxes to the state and federal governments. Your tax bill is simply part of your defense budget for your nation. This is the idea that got me to reconsider if taxation is truly theft.!
How much do you think Assad would pay in “taxes” to avoid being attacked by the U.S. government?
That is an interesting way to look at taxation. Is taxation still theft in Erwin’s scenario if it’s labeled “defense spending”?
Do you consider your tax bill as a part of your personal “defense budget”?
Please leave a comment on your thoughts about taxation and the viability of creating micro-nations within an existing country.
Brad
advocateofliberty 
I really liked Rick Santorum’s 20/20 perfect vision for America tax plan. Even though 20% may be high for some people, he also provides a refundable tax credit. He alos said that the first $60, 000.00 to $70, 000.00 would be free from taxes.
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Thanks for the info. I think we both agree the less taxes the better. I’d like politicians to speak about cutting spending as well. But that’s not a good way to get re-elected. Thanks for the conversation and reading my blog. If u have any ideas on how I could improve it I would appreciate the feedback. And if u think other people you know might enjoy it, please pass it along. Have u started ur blog yet or maybe a YouTube channel?
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I agree with the Libertarian Party on most issues. Now, if government was confined to its original limitations as spelled out under the U.S. Constitution prior to the Progressive era, we would be better off. The 16th and 17th Amendments were big mistakes.
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I agree but I believe there is an even better way to live among my fellow man then even the Constitution lays out. I believe that a truly voluntary society is what will produce the peace and prosperity we all want. Lysander Spooner, Murray Rothbard and Auberon Herbert are all articulate advocates of this idea.
Also I would recommend reading the Anti-Federalist writings. They warned before the Constitution was passed that it was too vague and would end up allowing for the concentration of power that we suffer under today. They were the ones who forced the addition of the Bill of Rights. Think where we’d be without them.
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Some people have taken quotes of some of our Founding Fathers, such as Thomas Jefferson to claim that progressive taxation was a good thing, which was never said specifically by him. Progressive taxation is immoral, as is any form of direct taxation. Here is a video for you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6ayb02bwp0 This tells the truth that nobody wants to hear, that government will not tell us: There is no law that requires that we pay personal income tax. Even if the U.S. Supreme Court upheld it, the fact that there is no law that requires us to pay this tax, proves that our government is a lawless entity. The required number of states to properly ratify the 16th Amendment was also never met from a legal standpoint.
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Thanks for the link. I’ll check it out. Quotes are like statistics they can be molded to suit your argument. Unfortunately we live in age that worships the god of Force, specifically Government Force. Whoever gains the levers of the State basically have unlimited power to do whatever they want. Everyday the government does something illegal according to the Constitution but that piece of parchment has yet to stop any politician, judge or bureaucrat. The 20 trillion dollar debt, the endless wars overseas and the drug war, not to mention all the various alphabet soup departments are all technically illegal. But yet they exist because of the belief that might makes right.I agree taxation is immoral. It is the taking of property by force from one to give it to another. But we also live in a country that believes otherwise. I find the take that taxes can be viewed as protection money paid so that individuals can be left alone by the government a good compromise. The State is like the mafia. I also believe that I am not more free because I’ve not done enough to help persuade others. I believe that only through our abilities to educate others and sell the ideas of liberty will we live in a more free, peaceful and prosperous world. I also believe it’s on those who believe in freedom to start businesses and charities to outcompete the State and to enlarge our platform to discuss the philosophy of freedom. The more successful the advocates of liberty are the more the message will be spread. I see it is as my responsibility as an advocate of liberty to constantly improve how I explain and express the fundamentals of freedom as well as become more successful in every aspect of my life. Having these types of discussions with a fellow champion of freedom helps me to do that. Thanks again for commenting.
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I am not an anarchist, however, I believe that government has exceeded its Constitutional limitations in some respects. As far as the 16th Amendment is concerned, the ratification was false. A lot of states were recorded as having ratified it despite the fact that they refused to legally do so.
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The movie made a lot of good points. I would advise anyone who is thinking about not paying their income taxes to read this first. https://taxfoundation.org/must-pay-federal-income-tax/
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You cannot be forced to pay something when there is no law to back it up. The reason for tax protesters going to jail for alleged tax evasion is because they did not ask to see the law that obligates them to pay an income tax. One guy in a You Tube video that shows the documentary I mentioned commented that he asked to see the law that required that he pay said tax. Charges against him were dropped.
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That is the move if that’s the issue you want to focus on. You should definitely set up a blog. I think that jury nullification education efforts would be way one to push back against the immoral income tax without the possibility of going to prison. Getting to the heart of the philosophy is also important. Freedom versus tyranny.
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I know that they are conservatives, not libertarians, however, what are your thoughts on Mark Levin and Michael Savage?
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Personally I don’t listen to either one now.
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Brad Miller, if you don’t mind my asking, at what point would you have been willing to listen to either of them? What is your reasoning for not doing so now?
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..+
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Brad Miller, I am not sure what you mean. Your comment had no words to explain your position.
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How many blogs do u comment on?
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Quite a few. Not all encompassing the same topic. Why?
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