The Moral Case against Income Taxes

There are two different approaches one can present to dismiss the need for income taxes. There is a moral case and a utilitarian approach. But for right now I will only demonstrate the moral case against any type of income tax.

1.) You own yourself and all the labor/time you put into something is yours to keep. If you have to pay a tax on your earnings it is being stolen from you. We know that it is being stolen because if you do not pay the tax the government will either take your belongings away or they will put you in jail.

2.) We all have positive and negative rights. A positive right is something that you can do. For example, free speech is a positive right. A negative right is something that I cannot do. I cannot force someone to give me a percentage of their paycheck. Even when a democratic society decides on an income tax, it does not mean that it is now moral to tax people because it is the rule of law. All that it means is that plunder is now legal. When this happens people have decided to hand over a right that they do NOT (negative right) have over to the government.

In this scenario one is being forced to give up their wages due to majority rule. This does not make it moral to do so.

If your neighbor was to knock on your door and demand for you to pay for his kids schooling, you would tell him some choice words that rhyme with duck. Instead if that, your neighbor will go to the voting booth and decide how much of your money he is entitled to this election cycle. Your neighbor is participating in legal theft.

Lets think about it for a moment. There are three scenarios that can take place when it comes to taxes.
A) The few can plunder the many
B) The man can plunder the few
C) No one can plunder anyone

Which one do you prefer?

Steve McClair
7-21-2016