(no subject)

[lawnrrd]

Tax protestors really piss me off, and I can't think of any reason why, other than I think they're wrong. But I think lots of people are wrong, and they don't generally piss me off. So I'm puzzled by this.

Comments

[coyotegoth.livejournal.com]

It could be the hypocrisy inherent in such behavior- very few tax protestors fail to avail themselves of the benefits which their tax dollars (would) entitle them to. Steams my clams, anyway.f

[lawnrrd]

See, what makes it even more puzzling to me is that I don't object to that in the least, because I don't see it as hypocrisy. They take advantage of the government services because when the government enters a field, it tends to prohibit competitors or change the rules to make them uneconomical. And I don't think you have an obligation to try to stop the juggernaut by throwing yourself in front of it.

I really am sympathetic to their desire not to pay taxes, because I think it's morally legitimate. That's why my rage at them seems especially odd to me.

I think it has something to do with their insistence on believing that they have special, secret knowledge that the rest of us normal people are missing out on, even when it's facially implausible and demonstrably false. It's like a stronger version of the way I feel about conspiracy freaks, who are also impervious to reality. The feeling is stronger in this case because their views are not merely grossly implausible, I know for a fact that they're wrong.

I'm not arrogant enough to think that they should change their minds just because I tell them that they're wrong. But their counterarguments are so transparently false, sloppy, or both, that I can only explain it through some intellectual dishonesty on their part. And maybe that's what pisses me off the most.

[donia.livejournal.com]

Is it just tax protestors who piss you off or do corporations that go out of their way to avoid paying taxes also upset you? For me, the latter bugs me more than the former because I can understand not paying your taxes to protest how tax money is distributed even though I would never do that myself; jail and fines are something I religiously try to avoid. Corporations who try to dodge taxes just because they want more profits, yet still expect subsidies from the government, really raise my ire.

[lawnrrd]

Actually, by "tax protestors" I mean people who refuse to pay taxes on the alleged grounds that the income tax is unconstitutional, because the Sixteenth Amendment was not properly ratified; or that wages are not income; or that paper money is not income; or that the IRS is not a government agency, but a private company; or that the Internal Revenue Code is somehow invalid law. These assertions are all demonstrably false, but the tax protestors go on blissful ignorance--well, it's blissful until they go to jail.

As for the other tax protestors, they don't piss me off the same way, but I do disagree with them. Most of them seem to object to exactly the same expenditures that I think are the only things that the government can properly spend money on. And while I object to all subsidies, I don't have a problem with any individual or corporation trying to keep their taxes as low as possible. It's their money, after all.

[donia.livejournal.com]

Ahh...those tax protestors. I get it now. I don't think income tax is unconstitutional or that the IRS is a private company. Those kinds of tax protestors don't make me mad at all because I'm find them laughable. You're right they do live in blissful ignorance.

I also agree to a certain extent that some of the other tax protestors are objecting to expenditures that only government can provide, but I think they would like to have a larger voice in how the government spends "their" money.

I wouldn't mind my taxes being higher, if I knew that the government was going to use that money to keep the air and water clean for everyone and not use it to make a bunch of bombs to help level countries they feel like invading. I think both of these (clean environment and military weapons) are expenditures that only the government can make; I would just rather that the government spent more on the former than the latter.

The government can lower my taxes and I might be able to use the money I save to buy an air or water purifier, but that does nothing for people who are poorer than I am or for wildlife. Taxes should be used for the common good.

As for individuals or corporations who want to avoid taxes by moving into offshore accounts, they should not receive any government subsidies. Often corporations that move offshore don't pay any taxes, yet they eagerly gobble up government subsidies (part of which comes from my money). That what makes makes me angry.