As I sit here filling out silly papers which are to prove to the US government
that I didn't make too much money last year here in Japan, I am struck with a thought that strikes me often: what goddamn business is it of theirs how much I made last year!?
Wouldn't it be weird if a complete stranger from your town showed up at your door one morning and asked to be let in, join you for breakfast, and discuss the details of your bank account and yearly finances? Why is it any different or less creepy when an individual from an entity called "government" tries to do this?
Are these individuals who are "the government" special human beings with special rights, greater than the natrual human rights which we all share? What gives them the right to barge into your personal business, and then to add insult to injury, to take your money and spend it on things they want without so much as a squeak of approval or consent from you, the OWNER OF THE MONEY.
Shit is out of whack, folks. Severely. Putridly. Hatefully. Pervertedly. Murderously and HEINOUSLY, out of whack.
"Dear neighbor that I don't know that showed up at my house today to find out all kinds of personal information about my bank account, money, gold, possessions, and finances in general: by what authority or legitimate right do you assume to be justified in requesting such information? And why on earth have you threatened to beat me, cage me, and literally murder me if I do not provide it???
Neighbor's response: Taxes are the price we pay to live in a civilized society.
Well, if blowing up kids in Pakistan is your idea of "civilized," then you can go fuck yourself. Hell, even if forcing me to pay for some "public good" you want with violence is your idea of "civilized," you can still go fuck yourself.
Why I don't lose hope.
Our revolution, fellow voluntaryists, is a philosophical one, and an individual one. In fact, we've already won. Why? We stand on the side of love. Compassion. Reality. Individuals are waking up and changing every day. There is no possible way any one of us can solve or cure all the ills of this world taken from the overwhelming, mainstream media, fear-porn-war-mongering macro view of things, but on an individual, micro level, we've already got her pegged. Why? Because their is no way for a collective to replace an individual. And the macro view of things, and all collectives, could not and would not exist without individuals.
All it takes is one mind changing. One human deciding: You know what. I'm not going to pull this trigger anymore to shoot a stranger in a strange land I have never met. I am not going to continue working for this agency which steals money from people and calls it "civilized." I'm done. I refuse. I refuse to live a life based on violence and extortion, and am determined to find a more peaceful way. When my neighbor needs help, I am going to see what I can do, instead of immediately calling for more laws to be passed to help him, which depend on stealing from others to do so.
You may not be able to solve "world hunger," but you can feed your kids and help a neighbor who is down on his luck.
You may not be able to stop all wars and violence, but YOU can refuse to enlist.
You may not be able to stop the extortion and theft that is called taxation, but you can seek to do business in alternate manners, via alternate currencies and forms of trade.
You may even have to disobey and boldly say "NO" to the face of power. This is a deeply individual matter, and must be weighed seriously in one's heart, mind, and spirit.
One thing I know is, as the individual changes--as the "micro" changes--the collectives and "big picture," change by default. This is why the individual will remain forever superior to any idea of a forced collective. The individual is, in the most real sense that there is, god, incarnate.
What kind of hell or heaven do you wish to create?
~KafkA
Graham Smith is a Voluntaryist activist, creator, and peaceful parent residing in Niigata City, Japan. Graham runs the "Voluntary Japan" online initiative with a presence here on Steem, as well as DLive and Twitter. (Hit me up so I can stop talking about myself in the third person!)
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It's extortion Kafka, and people don't realise it. If you tell someone, "Remember how in medieval times, the King sent the tax man at your door to collect gold and if you didn't pay up, they took your possessions or beat you up or locked you up at the castle." And people are like "yeah, those were terrible times. That was extortion." And they DON'T SEE THE LINK. To me it's EXACTLY the same thing. "But they don't take gold!" "They would if they knew you had some." They send letters first, then knock on your door, not even, they send bailifs and whoever to do the dirty work. It's called a government, not a kingdom, it's a president or prime minister, not a king, it's still extortion. People just don't see it.
There is a lady here in Quebec who used to be a doctor and who refused to pay her taxes for a few years before they sent her to prison. After another few years, they released her. Today, she goes around to conferences exposing the indoctrination they teach doctors and exposing their lies and still not paying her taxes.
The sad thing is, we don't want the discomfort and torture and trauma of prison, and that's ok. Some people don't care about it and just face it head on. But you know, if EVERYONE refused to pay their taxes, it would be less expensive for them to NOT imprison us all. We need to do what is right for us and it's different for everyone else, but when you see the truth and have clarity of thought, you can better assess the situation at hand.
When we know we are slaves, we can choose how to live to slowly move away from that slavery and help others awaken.
It is extortion, that's accurate. Extortion is not slavery, it's extortion!
Yes, it’s extortion and a form of slavery.
“In a broader sense, however, the word slavery may also refer to any situation in which an individual is de facto forced to work against their own will. Scholars also use the more generic terms such as unfree labour or forced labour to refer to such situations.[2] However, and especially under slavery in broader senses of the word, slaves may have some rights and protections according to laws or customs.”
source.
I had no idea Wikipedia was a legal dictionary. Paying taxes is not being forced to work against your will because there is no requirement for work, in fact most socialist states pay people who don't work at all. A citizen or freeman can skip work or quit their job, a slave can't. They may have some rights and protections but they don't have a choice about working. A slave can't quit their job and collect welfare. So even under that definition you are not a slave.
Everything you buy is taxed. A citizen or “freeman” is taxed if he wishes to have a business, etc. This is a claim of ownership on one’s labor, which is a product of one’s body. Is it your positions that a claim of ownership on another’s body does not translate to slavery?
Do they claim all of it or just a percentage? Are you free to renounce your citizenship and leave?
Is everyone required to work?
One has to apply to renounce one’s citizenship, and pay a fee. This application may be rejected because in truth, we are slaves to the state.
As for your first point:
Great post and one that strikes a cord with the protest I make to the UK gov. One perspective I would like to add to your post is what if we look at this from the reverse and ask why we aren't allowed to see their accounts. All the black-market arms deals and shady secret service work and that doesn't even begin to go into the expenses that politicians wrack-up. Then when the restaurant gets the bill, they come to folk like you and I and rifle through our data to see what money they can steal.
I do like your take on things and you talk a good fight when it comes to living alternatively and the knock-on effect it has on society. I was one that believed a traditional revolution was necessary, but this post makes me think otherwise. Thanks for being here bro, always enjoy your work.
You did expose it very well, @kafkanarchy84, thank you. I will have to write a version, with an addition, for my fellow Serbs.
Re-fucking steemed! Because It's actually none of
their-motherfucking-horse-blowing-concern-whatsoever.
Oh, and also because Anarchy!
I feel the same way around tax time... but as more and more solutions appear on and off the blockchain freedom is getting nearer and nearer. For now HODL that freedom in your own hands.
As a human being we can do our best by avoiding hurting others,yes we all are not satisfied with the system which every time sucks our blood.we can make aware people with our good works. As you had mentioned above,we can help the needy as much as we can ,we can make our kids efficient with proper knowledge etc.Great post dear,have a great day.
Sadly the state needs a bit of money to run things. But the current way that democracies run is completely flawed. I have a rough solution to that problem: https://steemit.com/government/@bitbrain/the-details-of-a-blockchain-based-electronic-direct-democracy
I have to disagree on the point of war though. While the US certainly sticks its nose where it doesn't belong, it does keep a lot of very bad people in check. If people like Hussein and Bin Laden were aloud to run amok, it would completely destabilise the entire region. That would affect everyone on Earth and send oil prices through the ceiling - highly inflationary to us all. A certain military presence is always a necessity. As peaceful as a nation may become, that will in no way save it from another aggressive nation. An undefended nation is one living on borrowed time.
The state is based on violating non-violent individuals and thus is illegitimate.
“The slavemasters have to get the cotton picked.”
I wouldn't say that it is based on that. That's really not how states came into being if you look at history. BUT: they certainly don't care in the least about violating all kinds of rights of adults without their consent!
Without violence the state could not exist. This is not an opinion. Just think about it. If you take away war, forced currency control, and forced participation in state affairs, states as they exist today, simply could not be. They would not be able to reach the magnitude they have.
Historically, violence is exactly how countries came to be. One man or group of men claimed they magically owned vast swathes of land, declared themselves leaders or rulers, and use meviolence against anyone in their way, peaceful or not, to take control of a secure dominance of their particular region.
Despite the government doing such a good job covering up, I've realized we are all slaves ever since I got to know they have all the freedom to control the inflation rate.
slaves don't have to fill out and forms or do paperwork. Slaves are not allowed to learn to read or write.
How you remain so obtuse seems to be a matter of conscious choice. Perhaps amoebic life does possess intelligence after all...
Great argument Graham.
Sorry man. The trolling bothers me. If you don’t file your taxes, and continue to try to keep your own money, you will be locked up. If you try to resist that, you will be killed. That’s slavery.
Usually they will just garnish your wages, someone in prison can't pay their back taxes. You won't be killed for not paying your taxes. If you try to attack a police officer they may defend themselves but tax evasion in America is not a capital offense, sorry, that's just not how it works. Your hyperbole bothers me, do you think that's really a good rhetorical device?
It's funny, whenever I question something you say then it's "trolling". You posting 5 times a day things like
" ATTN: All “Pragmatists” “Let’s All Just Get Along” Types. THIS IS WHAT YOU FAIL TO GRASP. FUCKING. READ. THIS."
Not trolling, got it.
Read what I wrote again. Yes. You will. If you resist, you will.
If you resist being robbed. Read my comment in reply to your comment above.
It’s not hyperbole. That’s the thing.
Claiming ownership on another’s body is slavery.
Nope, no one gets killed in the US for nonpayment of taxes, nobody, it is just not a capital offense. By "resist" do you mean "physically attack a police officer"? Your whole argument is based on that premise yet no one is killed for not paying their taxes because not paying taxes is not a capital offence. Find me a case in the US of someone being executed for tax evasion.
neither of our definitions defined it as that. If you feel that you are enslaved because you have to file a form with the government that says you make less than 6 figures abroad so that you don't have to pay any US taxes then you can always simply renounce your citizenship. It can be done in less than 90 seconds.
Can a slave make a declaration and then no longer be beholden to their master?
Very thought provoking , our taxes are another clog in the militarised industrial complex .