Comment 73646

By Undustrial (registered) - website | Posted February 02, 2012 at 09:50:49 in reply to Comment 73629

That's not what a "state" is. Just because you have power doesn't meant you "represent" those you have power over, especially when military force is involved.

As for our taxes, yes, they're ultimately enforced by violence, but only in fairly extreme cases. Most of our society's major rules are enforced this way (that what having a "state" means), and a great many tend to be enforced much more harshly than tax evasion. One could far more easily end up dead or in jail as a result of violating drug, immigration or property laws, which never tend to get the same level of scrutiny. Also worth mentioning is that many groups and societies which lack state oversight (squatters, indigenous tribes etc) regularly collectivize costs this way on a voluntary and consensual basis.

Overall, I'm not fond of paying taxes (is anyone) and my blood boils when I see tax dollars wasted. Nevertheless, many of the social programs which depend on tax dollars were hard-won victories of long popular struggles (ie: health care, workplace safety programs), and they tend to be the first ones facing the axe when taxes are called into question, rather than prisons or armies. For this reason, I'm often deeply sceptical of the motives of those who attack "taxes".

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