From: Corey Date: 2004-11-03T06:19:37+09:00 Subject: Re: [OT] US Presidential Election On Tuesday 02 November 2004 12:57 pm, Bill Kelly wrote: > From: "Corey" > > > > Unless you've decided to exercise your political power in another way. > > > And no, blogging and writing on a mailing list doesn't count. > > > > I don't pay taxes either. I simply don't file. Does that count? > > Huh. I take it you have a septic tank, and pump your own > water from a well? I pay a water bill every month. Do I have a choice where my water comes from? How much does the infrastructure cost, and what percentage of that should I be expected to pay? > And avoid purchasing any food that was > delivered to the store by trucks driving on roads and > freeways? > Was I involved in the decision to create those roads and freeways? Were those roads and freeways constructed efficiently, and were the big government contractors used to build them payed a _reasonable_ fee? Where does that sales tax I doll out when I buy groceries go to? Wasn't the price of those groceries I paid for way more than adequate to pay for the company's costs that drove the trucks which used the roads to deliver its goods? > Or at least, refrain from driving on the roads > and freeways yourself? > I ditched my car a couple years ago - mainly so that I couldn't be forced to carry a "driver's licence", pay for registration, pay for insurance, and pay for large amounts of petrol that innocent people in other countries are being killed over. But yeah, I still use the roads and freeways via bus, bicycle, taxi, and friends, I'd prefer that there were a _whole_lot_ less roads and freeways and concrete. Also, refer to my answers above concerning cost, efficiency, and choice. Am I reasonably morally obligated to continually pay fees for past and future infrastructure that's built up around me and right up under me, and for monopolized services which I very well may not use much if at all? Protection rackets are _wrong_. Pyramid schemes are _wrong_. Monopolized control of public resources is wrong. Coerced redistribution of wealth is _wrong_. > And should your house catch fire, > you'll forego calling the fire department? > Do I even have a choice in the matter? And can't I just be billed when and if that actualy ever happens? Can't I just decide whether or not to voluntarily opt to pay for insurance? > I mean if you're really not using any of the services that > other peoples' taxes provide, I guess that's cool... > It'll be "cool" when I receive a detailed and exhaustive itemized bill for all services rendered, in which I pay a fair and reasonable amount only for that which I have used and for that towards which I have voluntarily choosen to "invest" in. It'll also be "cool" when the majority of my "civil tax duty/burden" isn't spent of freaking bullets, guns, missiles and other things and policies and organizations and institutions and infrastructures that KILL PEOPLE. I also find it extremely strange that when I simply don't file for taxes, that I get harped on through guilt ( "your not paying your just due!" ), or through law ( "it's _illegal_ to not pay taxes - you should be jailed, cheater!" ), but yet people who benefit and profit and use the system's resources way more than myself, can and do actualy file their taxes - but they cheat or evade using shelters, loopholes and shelters, and yet there is no issue or outcry over _their_ distinct and deliberate dishonesty and profiteering. Finally, with all those things you pointed out - you seemed to have forgotten that thing called INFLATION. You know, that criminal process where the Federal Reserve purposefully pumps out its worthless fiat money ( i.e. "promissory notes" which are backed by thin air - certainly not anything of actual concrete value such as gold ). In so doing the folks at the top suddenly get a whole bunch of free money, but by the time it seeps down to us normal folk in the real world, every one of our dollars gets devalued, which not only effects our day-to-day income, but it destroys our savings as well. This is nothing other than another form of subversive taxation. So, I get taxed even when I refuse to pay taxes.... all those services you listed above as examples of my hypocracy and selfishness - I've already in fact payed for them. Beers, Corey -- "The essence of all slavery consists in taking the product of another's labor by force. It is immaterial whether this force be founded upon ownership of the slave or ownership of the money that he must get to live." - Leo Tolstoy