The Coastal Post - July, 1998
The right to lawfully acquired private property is a prerequisite of human freedom. Even birds stake out territory during nesting season and, in quite a few instances, the progeny of a mating pair return to nesting sites. Anyone who has ever raised aquarium fish understands the territorial imperative. Human beings call the exclusive use of land or materials "private property". Even the socialist liberal believes in a certain amount of private property, or else he would ethically have to let you sleep in his house whenever you so wished.
The importance of private property to human life and liberty is so fundamental that life and liberty are absolutely impossible without some level of recognition of private property. The food and water that goes into your mouth to sustain your life must be owned by you at the moment of ingestion. That food and water is exclusively yours. Once it is in your guts it isn't going to do anyone else's body a bit of good until it has been shat out upon the ground and fertilized a tomato plant that the next guy eats.
Government costs money. To expect someone to protect your life, liberty or ability to pursue happiness for free is to expect the person doing the protecting to be your slave. Taxation is how government generally gets the money to pay for the essential tasks to which it has been assigned. We expect government to help protect our bodies (cops and soldiers), and our property (cops and soldiers and courts that enforce contract). Now it seems proper that the poor person has a right to the same protection of his life that the wealthy person deserves. No more, no less. Bill Gates's life is no more important than yours (although Bill might argue persuasively about that). But Bill Gates places a much, much greater burden upon the available resources of government when he expects his vast amount of property to be guarded and protected by the cops and soldiers that are also appointed to watch out for your property. Yes, Bill Gates should pay a lot more taxes than you.
An important question arises when we ask ourselves how this is to be accomplished. The Marxist socialist advocates a progressive income tax. The progressive income tax is one of the ten planks of the Communist Manifesto. The federal income tax was launched with the catchy phrase "soak the rich". This is the politics of envy. Too often it has been wielded by the non productive to steal from the productive. (And herein lies the parable: That not all the rich are productive and not all the poor are non productive).
Think about it. How can the phrase "the redistribution of wealth" actually mean anything other than common theft? The dope addict who hits you over the head and takes your wallet is just "redistributing" your wealth, isn't he?
Bill Gates should be taxed, not on what he earns, but on what he spends (as should all the rest of us). His vast estates require more police protection than your humble apartment, so he should pay more. And that greater payment should be extracted at the point of purchase. While Bill Gates' money is in the bank the bank has been given the responsibility of protecting that money, and Gates pays for that service by allowing the bank to lend out his money at interest. But once Bill takes his money out of the bank and buys a new Mercedes and a private jet the government (with your tax money) is now expected to protect the newly acquired private property of Mister Bill. As things exist now, you are paying an unfair proportion of that protection fee.
For the life of me I can't understand why we cannot abolish all income taxes, all property taxes and all inheritance taxes and run the whole damn show with point of purchase taxation (also known as sales taxes). We built the most extraordinary highway and road system on the face of the planet with just the sales tax on gasoline. Heavier, more ponderous vehicles break down roads and bridges more than lighter economy cars. They also use more fuel and are therefore automatically taxed more heavily. Why can't we see that the disparate amounts of private property of the wealthy and the poor also strain the legitimate resources of government in exactly the same proportional way?
I am not an economist or a mathematician, but it seems that a single sales tax of ten percent on all goods and services would fund the essential activities of our local, state and federal governments (with the feds last in line, of course). Even God doesn't ask for more than ten percent (the tithe). When I buy the services of a plumber I would pay sales tax. When the plumber buys a tool with the money I paid him he would pay the sales tax. When the toolmaker spends the money the plumber gave him to buy a magazine he would pay the sales tax. Each time the amount of private property (or its value, i.e. my repaired plumbing) in our society increased the increase would provide for the government resources and manpower needed to protect that property.
Sales taxes have been called "regressive" taxes because they place a so-called "unfair" burden upon the poor. Okay, if you really believe that then let us exempt from the sales tax all unprepared food items, medical expenses, educational tuition, health insurance premiums, and the expense on one's primary housing. The poor guy (and the rich guy) gets to buy untaxed food, untaxed medical care, untaxed education, untaxed medical insurance, and an untaxed roof over his head. The poor could exist at a modest subsistence level without paying a single penny in tax.
What would change is that the very rich would start paying a far greater amount of tax because they spend so much more than you or I. And they don't want to do that. And that is why they bribe the corrupt, fecal brained scum known as politicians to keep the insidious income tax alive while they, the mega wealthy, cry crocodile tears and play the loopholes that you and I can't play. All the while the mega wealthy sucker you into believing that they fear the income tax. They use your envy of their prosperity to fuel your own ignorance of the actual reality. They are like Brer Rabbit begging not to be thrown into the briar patch! Can't you see and understand this? Here is the final piece of the puzzle: Socialism was invented by, instituted by, and is enforced by a cabal of banking and corporate monopolists who call themselves "free market" capitalists but are not, because they are ravening, bloodsucking thieves. Let he who has ears hear. You know who they are.
