Of Liberty And Taxes As A Means To Civil Life

Training for my half-marathon in Vermont next month I was watching, naturally, Vermont This Week (it's so nice to view politics without the stench of parochialism like here). The panel was discussing gast tax hikes and other tax increases to raise revenues in the state.

Amazing. Just tax is the answer for all our revenue ills.

The real problem is on the other end - spending. Alas, that means cuts and where to cut?

It reminded me, yes all while I ran, of the Autun region in France founded by the Romans.

Autun, to you Ancient Rome buffs, was one of the few places that rebelled against oppressive taxes levied by the later Roman Empire. In fact, taxes have generally been the leitmotif of civil revolutions with the American Revolution being one of the last great rebellions against, among other issues, taxes. While the Autun region felt taxes were too heavy, the Americans sang the call of 'no taxation without representation.'

Fuck King George as it were.

Excessive taxes are evil the way I see it. I don't see anything logical or efficient in them especially in lieu of the known waste and corruption present. Of course, determining what constitutes "high" or "excessive" taxes is hard to determine. Today, bludgeoned by the benign stick of the state, people don't take to the streets when angry about taxes. Indeed, you're deemed an extremist for merely questioning an increase. The last time I witnesses a tax rebellion, led by immigrants, was when Montreal small-business owners (of which my father was present) fought Jean Dore's poll tax.

Yes. Montreal is a shining example of expropriating and using our money with any responsibility.

I guess the best determination is to employ the classic "I'll know it when I see it" acid test. And right now, I know it by seeing it.

My home province of Quebec is in a state of clueless anarchy where intellectual midgets obsessively funnel everything through the prism of linguistic nad cultural) segregation, dream of a socialist utopia with no entrepreneurial class to support it, or any idea of what constitutes a free and pluralists society where tyranny of the majority prevails all while operating in a highly corrupted political structure.

Fuck Ottawa as it were.

Quebec in the image of the PQ. Ca c'est beau! La liberte...pour nous et non vous!

Swinging back to Vermont. It's not the only state looking to find ways to raise revenues through higher taxes. Like New York, it's looking at "oppressive" taxes that discourage consumption habits like sodas and cigarettes.

In the end, all this will do is fuck the poor and the middle class in the ass, temporarily solve the revenue crunch and erode still more of free choice.

It's the cycle we're in.

Which brings me to Rome.

There's no question the great civilizations in human history rose from a foundation of free enterprise (in whatever form. In Rome, the great road systems allowed for the free movement of goods and services without interference whereas this was not the case in other places in antiquity. This is the single great accomplishment of Roman trade that thrust it to the forefront of power in the Mediterranean) where towns grew when taxes were honest, reasonable and low. It's once those societies amass wealth the trajectory compels us to tax more because our demands (including the unreasonable ones) from the state increase. Along with it, the political class calcifies (in its jealous attainment and protections of power) and steals from the public trust.

Rome fell, in part, due to the full weight of its luxuries and heavy taxes that burdened the people.

Sound familiar? Free public education is a luxury (not an investment) we can't afford. Public assistance is something entirely different. Even Rome had many of its subjects receiving assistance in some form or another. The thinking, like today, was to keep people busy and off the streets possibly committing crimes. Feed 'em and have 'em watching theater, gladiatorial or racing games.

I think we're at this point once again. North America is on that trajectory.

Hey. If you feel giving up in total 75% of your money (when all taxes are compiled) is the "price of civilization" be my guest. Taxes, when used properly and without prejudice or corruption, can be employed properly in providing certain benefits for the community at large.

If you feel our expanding welfare state (again, one can debate if this is the case) is a reflection of a great civilization then, again, your choice. Perhaps an argument can be made to the contrary of what I write.

But that's not the price of maintaining civilization.

It's the price (cost) of decadence.