parresia

Here's my topic.Scott writes: ~~~The

Here's my topic.

Scott writes:
~~~The whole concept of taxes kind of bother me - I can't get around the fact that it just seems like a form of legalized theft.~~~

Although, I, like anyone, dislike paying taxes; I cannot agree with the notion that taxes are even a form of "legalized theft." It seems to me if taxes are legalized theft, then it would also be legalized theft anytime someone was asked to pay for a service or services, e.g., paying to have one's car washed would be a form of legalized theft on the part of the car washing agency or person.

Government performs services, therefore government is obliged to receive payment for those services. Granted government, by and large, performs services inefficiently, slowly, and sometimes donwright ineptly, but this does not change the fact that government does do things for us.

The government, I believe, has an obligation to do at least three things.

1. Protect us from enemies foreign and domestic. This task is carried out by not only our military forces, but also local police and firefighters. (this takes money)
2. Government ought to punish evil doers. This task is carried out by our court system. (this takes money).
3. Government oversees the general well-being of the nation through legislation-- here, the rules of conduct are established (standards for proper behavior), and the rules of commerce are established (standards to interact with other states, companies, countries, etc). This task is carried out by the Congress, and President. (this takes money).

These three things alone, I believe, justify taxes. I believe that any godly nation will have a government that does these three things, and it is the obligation of the citizenry to support their government financially.

Now, the question comes must be asked, "does government do too much, and take too much of our money?" My answer to this question is a resounding, "YES!" I would like to see the day when our government performs ONLY those three functions I list above.
If the three functions above were government's only functions we could lower taxes across the board to as low as 7 to 8 percent (some economists claim it could be even lower).

(Currently 50% of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product goes straight to the beast, otherwise known as government).

Posted by jeremy stock at May 16, 2001 01:52 PM