Monday, April 11, 2005
Do you know the look on your child's face right after they unload their Halloween candy on the kitchen table? Or the excitement in your kid's voice right after they step through the gates at a giant amusement park like Disney World or Six Flags?
You might think that that sort of glee is only available to young children. But you would be wrong. For
The State, sheer, unadulterated ecstasy is what they feel when they think about. . . tax collection.
Consider the
front page story in today's edition of
America's Worst Newspaper. It joyfully informs us that the Department of Revenue has a fancy new computer—"like the alien creature in the movie 'Predator'[!]"—that will "hunt down tax welchers and nail them like they've never been nailed before." Awesome! Does it have lasers?
The article blathers on for another 868 words, describing with unconcealed awe the whiz-bang mechanics of what seems like a pretty neat machine.
But, since this is
The State, they miss both the obvious questions and the implications for the common person. Typical. Never, not once, does
America's Worst Newspaper bring up the specter of
overzealous tax collection or the
abrogation of taxpayers' rights. And why should they? According to
The State, taxes are something that
little people should pay gladly and
even ask for more.Look, no one likes tax cheats. (Okay,
almost no one.) Intelligent people know that if enough people evade taxes, the rest of us will likely have to pay more. But it's irresponsible to pretend that their are no issues of privacy, civil liberties, and freedom that sit cheek-by-jowl with the state's need to coercively collect revenue.
Posted by Bill Smith at 10:03 AM |
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