I'm sorry, that entire comment was a Herp a Derp up to the last sentence.
The idea that taxation = civilization goes back to the first Law Codes of Ur-Nammu and Hammurabi. The civilizations have the power to tax to raise and support armies and to raise and support bureaucracies. Tribes, chiefdoms, and gatherer-hunter societies do not. You can be civilized and pay taxes or not pay taxes and be a barbarian, choice is yours. But don't be a parasite on civilization by refusing to acknowledge that taxes are required in any sense.
The quarter of the US population that pays no taxes has nothing to pay. Taxing them is how ancient empires turned into violent revolutionary centers divided on themselves.
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Re: The political sphere is a funhouse.
Date: 11/9/11 18:55 (UTC)The idea that taxation = civilization goes back to the first Law Codes of Ur-Nammu and Hammurabi. The civilizations have the power to tax to raise and support armies and to raise and support bureaucracies. Tribes, chiefdoms, and gatherer-hunter societies do not. You can be civilized and pay taxes or not pay taxes and be a barbarian, choice is yours. But don't be a parasite on civilization by refusing to acknowledge that taxes are required in any sense.
The quarter of the US population that pays no taxes has nothing to pay. Taxing them is how ancient empires turned into violent revolutionary centers divided on themselves.