That name reminds me of TheArchFiend

```It is true that the theory of our Constitution is, that all taxes are paid voluntarily; that our government is a mutual insurance company, voluntarily entered into by the people with each other; that each man makes a free and purely voluntary contract with all others who are parties to the Constitution, to pay so much money for so much protection, the same as he does with any other insurance company; and that he is just as free not to be protected, and not to pay any tax, as he is to pay a tax, and be protected.```

```But this theory of our government is wholly different from the practical fact.  The fact is that the government, like a highwayman, says to a man: Your money, or your life.  And many, if not most, taxes are paid under the compulsion of that threat.```

```The government does not, indeed, waylay a man in a lonely place, spring upon him from the road side, and, holding a pistol to his head, proceed to rifle his pockets.  But the robbery is none the less a robbery on that account; and it is far more dastardly and shameful.```

```The highwayman takes solely upon himself the responsibility, danger, and crime of his own act.  He does not pretend that he has any rightful claim to your money, or that he intends to use it for your own benefit.  He does not pretend to be anything but a robber.  He has not acquired impudence enough to profess to be merely a "protector," and that he takes men's money against their will, merely to enable him to "protect" those infatuated travellers, who feel perfectly able to protect themselves, or do not appreciate his peculiar system of protection.  He is too sensible a man to make such professions as these.  Furthermore, having taken your money, he leaves you, as you wish him to do.  He does not persist in following you on the road, against your will; assuming to be your rightful "sovereign," on account of the "protection" he affords you.  He does not keep "protecting" you, by commanding you to bow down and serve him; by requiring you to do this, and forbidding you to do that; by robbing you of more money as often as he finds it for his interest or pleasure to do so; and by branding you as a rebel, a traitor, and an enemy to your country, and shooting you down without mercy, if you dispute his authority, or resist his demands.  He is too much of a gentleman to be guilty of such impostures, and insults, and villainies as these.  In short, he does not, in addition to robbing you, attempt to make you either his dupe or his slave.```

```The proceedings of those robbers and murderers, who call themselves "the government," are directly the opposite of these of the single highwayman.```

```In the first place, they do not, like him, make themselves individually known; or, consequently, take upon themselves personally the responsibility of their acts.  On the contrary, they secretly (by secret ballot) designate some one of their number to commit the robbery in their behalf, while they keep themselves practically concealed.

-Lysander Spooner, No Treason: The Constitution of No Authority.```

Representative government is only our collective will as an electorate. The Founding Fathers did not say "taxation is evil" they said "taxation without representation is evil"

I will pay over $20,000 in federal income tax this year and I do so joyously as the act of paying taxes is the act of a free citizen. It is the slave who does not pay taxes.

I vote and I pay taxes, both are my agency as a citizen made manifest.

A free citizen. One so free they still need to pay taxes or risk jail even when they no longer live in the country.

If they no longer wish the support of thier government they can renounce thier citizenship.

The price of freedom is threat of jail just because of the circumstances of your birth.

"the Price of Freedom is Eternal Vigilence" wasn't it that?

and there was a video Game I loved called "the Price of Freedom"...

though many here might be too young to know it 😛

and don't have the right input devices to play it

It was a 1996 release on PC-CD-ROM.

freaking 7 Discs

taxes arnt the price of freedom, taxes are the price of sovereignty

freedom isint a concept that any living thing actually has, what we as humans can manage is a very narrow definition of freedom that we also disagree over the best interpretation of and implantation of.

The point is, you avoid taxes you go to jail. But you can only avoid taxes if you permanently leave the country. Yet to do that, another country had to accept you. You are offered no choice. Your parents decide. That is not freedom.

thats actually a disingenuous argument, because it implies something by not giving the full context of what causes the effect it argues against. you do go to jail if you avoid paying taxes, however you can avoid having to pay taxes and remain a member of a state. i've never paid income tax for example, the reason ive never paid income tax is that ive never actually had income. now various things in our society that you opt into have associated taxes such as property and income, these taxes exist for one reason and one reason only, national defense.

i would say though that what the united states uses taxes for and how it treats people who owe taxes to the united states has overreached its reasonable and constitutional boundaries.

we could have an argument where a preferable response to someone not paying taxes would be excommunication though if you like.

If government is an insurance agency protecting us from aggression against our person or property, then for an insurance agency to use force against competing agencies is a contradiction of it's purpose of a protection against aggression.

taxes arnt an argument of freedom or economics or democracy, taxes are a matter of state maintenance, to maintain the government you choose to maintain rather than having another government maintained by other people who do choose to pay taxes (forced or otherwise) and not having any government of your own to defend yourself from that other government.

until you see a world that has no need for governments, and trust me we are far far from that, if its even possible because humans tend to collectivize in order to combine our efforts to a common goal even if we have no need to do so in order to survive; you will never rid humanity of taxes.

also the scenario where you do eliminate taxes wont be a capitalism anymore, because a capitalism requires a hierarchy that can demand a majority to pay a minority for leadership, and the only scenario you have a majority that does not need leadership in order to survive is one which somehow a single individual can both defend itself from the majority and also the majority no longer gains any benefits from cooperation compared to doing things for themselves. which is a post scarcity anarcho communism.

frankly im not sure a species of animals we currently define as humans can exist within communities without taxes

taxes are so integral to how we manage communities in competition with other communities and competition is a such an natural instinct among humans

people dont really want to get rid of taxes, no matter how many of them say they do, only humans who feel no threat see no reason to have them, however humans who feel no threat arnt the kind of humans i would like to live amongs in society.\

```"You're all a bunch of socialists!"
-Ludwig von Mises.```

the only way to avoid taxes and generally function without relying on the state is to be self sufficient, yet that state makes such activities like hunting illegal without having the required permits, and only during certain times of the year. And in order to farm you need land, which usually means you were given something the state counts as income at some point and taxed unless you were very very lucky with the life you were born into. For most people avoiding taxes is not valid option that doesn't still post a risk of death or jail. And the state cannot be relied upon to statify your basic needs.

also a government isint an insurance agency protecting you from aggression against your person or property, it is when you only imagine yourself in a world without government, however in a world where government is established for as long as humanity has existed in some form or another, government is that natural tendency of humans who associate themselves to some people but not all people. in that scenario what government insures you against is the eternal out group and insures the propagation of whatever in group you have and the rules that have existed for that in group for as long as it remains sovereign

the state taxes what are basic needs within its society to insure that anyone who benefits from its protection is guaranteed to be earning it. thats simply the most sensible method of taxation.

no state is free to those who choose not to believe they are part of it yet choose to still depend on it

And then goes out of it's way to make competiting with them for supplying those needs needlessly expensive. There by keeping their justification for taxing.

i would state that if you can manage to have the protection of a state without paying any taxes your stealing from the state and everyone around you

you would be an incredibly privilaged person in that community for the community to choose you of all of them not to have to provide anything to have the same rights and benefits they all share by mutual cooperation with eachother

yet i assume thats not really whats desired, whats truely desired is absolute freedom, which you can only get without a state, and thus you also can only get in part of the world no community claims to own, true wilderness

So you force me to use the provided road, make it near illegal for me to build my own, then say I'm stealing when I don't want to pay taxes for something you are forcing me to use?

ive already stated i beleive the united states over reaches, i think you should be able to do far more than you can do in the united states with what you pay taxes for

however you could never build a road without paying for taxes, for instance you cant build a road without owning the land the road is going on