The idea of consent

I am tired of hearing the idea that people consent to any taxation. It defies all logic. I don't even think the thieves in office deny the fact that taxation is mandatory.

To me the only real way to control a government is to control its funding. From this, I am lead to believe there are two types of people who argue for taxation: Those who know that the state has no power without it, and those who don't realize the state would have no power without it.

People don't need taxes, if there is a function that needs to be met, say building a road, it can be accomplished without government. People don't need taxes, Tyrants do. We pay our dentists, prostitutes, doctors, grocers, etc. Churches collect funds without forcing people to contribute; this is because certain individuals want to do good, they don't need to be forced to contribute to things that are necessary.

So to argue that a government needs to tax to perform a certain "service" (ew)is to argue that a government is not supported by the general population; meaning it has no legitimacy. Not that a state would have any legitimacy if it was supported by the general population, this argument is just to persuade that second group of people mentioned above that taxation isn't necessary.

Now the idea that both groups of people use to argue, poorly, that individuals consent to taxation, has been destroyed by many folks. The "Why don't you go somewhere else. If you choose to stay then you have chosen to consent." argument. I think an analogy is always the best argument against this ridiculous belief.



"A man sails a ship, and crashes on an island. He is the only person there as far as he knows. He hunts and collects fruit. One day the man is surprised to find a group of people surrounding him. They are from a tribe not to far from him, He had never seen them before today. The man says "Hi, may I help You."

The tribe leader says "No we are here to help you."

The Man says "Oh I'm fine. Been doing fine on my own."

The Tribe Leader says "No, we have been helping you, by placing fruit close to you, and releasing wild animals where you would find them."

The Man "I haven't seen you do any of this, and all of my fruit has been picked from trees."

The Tribe leader "We have also been protecting you from an Island Monster."

The Man "I haven't seen any monster."

The Tribe leader "Well from now on we won't be doing this for free, we have voted and from now on you will be giving us half of your fruit, and half of your game."

The Man "No, I won't be giving you anything."

The group Leader "We have also been holding back our urge to eat you."

The man feels a bit threatened now, unsure of what to say.

The tribe leader "Great, well then we will be by tomorrow, to take what is ours. Please feel free to join us the next time we vote on whether or not to take your food."

The man just watches them walk away.

The next month, the man is invited to go and vote to stop the taxing of his food.

He goes and meets the tribe. There are 20 members of the tribe. He goes to a voting booth, and places his vote, against the theft of his food.

Things don't go so well for the Man.

The tribe overwhelmingly votes in their own favor.

The next month he is invited. This time he is determined to sway minds. He says "Look, you are all capable of finding your own food. I have been here for a long time, and I have been able to find enough food for myself. You have all been feeding off of my work. Perhaps you should use your time here to get your own food."

The Tribe leader says "If we do that, we will have to stop protecting you from the island monster, we will have to stop hiding fruit in your favor, and we will have to stop releasing game for you to hunt."

The tribe agrees.

The man says "I never asked you for any of that."

The Tribe leader laughs and says, "You did when you decided to get stuck on our island."