Thousands of years ago humans had nothing to worry about, except for food and security. There were plenty of wild animals for hunting, fruits and vegetables for gathering and water for quenching thrust of the primitive two legged animals. Primitive men were not the slave of their own burden. They used to hunt for only a few hours and when there was enough food, they had no need to go out for hunting or gathering food. So, they have enough time for themselves. But, later everything changed.

Humans made other animals slaves and started agriculture. So, they had to worry about the safeguarding of their animals and harvests. It forced them to establish rules and thus state came into existence. State demanded a big portion of people’s earning in the form of taxation. No matter how small someone’s earning may be, the state never fails to collect tax from him or her. Even an unborn child pays taxes which is levied on the healthcare and other facilities of its mother when she is pregnant.

Taxation in the pre-industrial world was not as burdensome as it has become now. Kings and rulers had limited resources to collect taxes. Taxes were collected from crops and businesses. There was no concept of income tax and indirect taxes. Wars were the main thing on which kings used to spend money. Other things on which money was spend had been the luxurious palaces and buildings of the kings and their knights, clergies etc. As there was no concept of welfare nations, there was no spending on such things which are necessary for the modern states.

Concept of the welfare nation has, no doubt, raised the standard of living of poor and marginalized sections. But, in this quest burden of the tax on common people have increased multiple times. Modern states need more powerful armies, armies need modern equipment and arms. Modern states have to provide roads, hospitals, and means of transport for people and also have to spend on social security. Much of the expenditure is incurred on infrastructure and public works. Sometimes, expenditure is incurred just for the sake of spending money as it gives benefit to the politicians, contractors and business houses. Unnecessary construction is detrimental to the environment but who cares. Politicians join politics to become richer, more powerful and more famous. While they need donations from big business houses and contractors, they allow them to invest on such projects which are harming our planet. Modern governments are also involved in unnecessary procurement.

It all puts huge burden on the shoulders of the ordinary people. They have to pay more taxes on their income. They pay income tax on their earning, stamp tax, registration tax, house tax, entry tax, tax on purchases, and tax on using roads, electricity and public infrastructure. Even taxes are levied from the dead people’s relatives for the funerals. There are so many taxes we have to pay in order to live in a welfare state. If someone fails to pay tax on time, a huge penalty and interests are also levied from him. So, the modern taxation system is an organized loot from which everyone is affected. An ordinary person who does job for living, have to pay almost 50-80 % of his earnings on taxation. In order to save money people work for more and more hours and thus we have become slaves of our own system. If we don’t work sufficiently, we may not pay our EMIs and taxes, failing to which we have to suffer from grave consequences.

Government collects money as tax from the people. Tax revenue is spend on infrastructures, social security (a small part only), economy boosting and defense. Much of the tax collection goes to the rich people in the form of income, loans and subsidies while ordinary people are trapped in a vicious cycle. They work hard to save money. More taxes are levied on more income and thus more work is needed to do to mitigate the effects of taxation. So, the modern taxation system is an organized loot which is making common people slaves.

Thank you!