Taxes & Fairness

What's fair about taxes? All this talk from Obama & the left going on and on about people 'paying their fair share' is getting a little old. Fairness & taxes do not go together. There is nothing 'fair' about taxes. It is extortion from a powerful entity taking the property of someone else. Throughout history the kings of the earth have extracted taxes from their citizens or their conquests to pay for their wars & keep them in luxury. If you don't pay your taxes, you get thrown in prison & your property is confiscated. It is the same today.

But we in America have a bit of history with taxes & the govt. We got tired of the King taxing our labors to finance some european conflict. Then we got more tired of supporting an occupying army, put in place to make sure we paid our taxes. So some years back, we rebelled. We declared our right to throw off the shackles of oppression, & 'institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to us shall seem most likely to effect our safety and happiness.'

Most citizens don't mind paying a reasonable amount of their resources to a government entity, if the services provided are beneficial to the nation. We pay for schools, police & firemen. We pay for military protection. We pay for basic administration, regulation & oversight of laws, enforcement, & punishment. And we pay for management of our foreign affairs. Americans put in place a constitution to provide a government that handles these basic duties.

But over the years, those in government have expanded their role.. they have found new things they can get involved in, for the good of the people. They have built an empire of government employees & programs.. to help us. They have extended their reach to all parts of the world, using our money to meddle in other nation's affairs, even killing & oppressing other nations. I know that during times when our national survival is at stake, we have to sacrifice & provide more to our govt to protect us. But when those times are over, the government should return to a more modest role, providing basic services to it's citizens. That has not happened. Our government has increased, taxed us more, & become dominant, wanting control of every aspect of our lives.

America has changed, & is still changing. Unless we turn from this trend to statism, our freedoms will end, & the America of history will be over.

Taxes are not fair. It is a big thug taking from us what we cannot protect. Some people don't mind if someone else gets mugged, just as long as it's not them. But once you let the muggers roam the streets, mugging anyone they want at will, eventually they will mug you too.

How about instead, we cut back the size & scope of govt so they don't require so much? The problem we have been facing with our government is not insufficient taxes, it is too much spending. That is why we are in debt. That is what has put us to the edge of financial collapse. So no more flowery eloquence & propoganda about paying a 'fair share'. There is nothing fair about paying taxes. It is a necessary evil at best, & an oppressive taskmaster at worst.

A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government. 
Thomas Jefferson 


Men naturally rebel against the injustice of which they are victims. Thus, when plunder is organized by law for the profit of those who make the law, all the plundered classes try somehow to enter -- by peaceful or revolutionary means -- into the making of laws. According to their degree of enlightenment, these plundered classes may propose one of two entirely different purposes when they attempt to attain political power: Either they may wish to stop lawful plunder, or they may wish to share in it.
Frederic Bastiat


We contend that for a nation to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.
Winston Churchill


“Learn from the mistakes of others. You can never live long enough to make them all yourself.” 
Groucho Marx