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Pastimes : My House -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Solon who wrote (2924)	10/22/2002 10:10:02 PM
From: Lazarus_Long	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 7689

I pay my taxes because I believe it is the right thing to do...NOT because I am afraid of going to jail. If you wish to stay out of jail, you pay them whether you believe it right ot not. Governments ultimately rely on punishment and force. Deadly force if needed. And you die whether you wish it or approve it or not. And once you are in jail for non-payment, you cannot "voluntarily" leave. Bearing the consequences of breaking the law is not voluntarily. The law will force them on you whether you like it or not. This is sophistry you are pushing, Solon. If gov'ts believed that, they would not pass laws providing punishment for tax evasion. They have spend part of their tax revenue providing housing for tax evaders at gov't expense. I have never murdered anyone, Lazarus. Do you know why? It is not because they will put me in jail if I do. It is not because I don't want to give you my cell number and have you write to me. And lots of people have not committed murder for just those reasons. True, you can choose to break the law. But the law then sees that your further choices are rather limited, at least for a time. In terms of taxes, most are caught between a rock and a hard place. They would like to keep the money for themselves, being sure they can make better use of it than the gov't. But the gov't is going to take the possibility of making further voluntary choices for some time if they do so. Tell me: If someone steps out of a car, puts a gun to your head, and tells you to get in, do you consider that you get in "voluntarily"? You may answer that yes. I think the answer of most people would be "no".