I currently spend about 50 times more on federal taxes than the median taxpayer. I pay a rate of federal tax that’s more than double the average rate. The 14th Amendment supposedly protects me against this kind of inequity. It promises me the “equal protection” of the laws and says the state can’t deprive me of my property without due process. But the last time there was a dispute about my taxes, the state seized every penny of my assets it could find. It took my checking account and my brokerage account without even bothering to tell me. It moved to put a lien on my house. I found out what was happening via a letter from Bank of America. The IRS offered me no due process – it didn’t even notify me. (By the way, the matter was resolved after about six months. Turns out the state owed me $2,000 in refunds. They declined to pay me, citing the statute of limitations. True story.) And I certainly enjoy no equal protection. Just look at the rate and amount I pay compared with more than 90% of other people in this country. It is impossible for me to peacefully object to this kind of tyranny. Even if I were to give up my citizenship and leave the country, I would be forced to pay an exit tax that’s roughly equal to the death tax my heirs will be forced to pay on my estate. These are the same kinds of laws, by the way, that kept a generation of people locked behind the Iron Curtain. Leaving meant giving up all of your wealth. I can’t possibly vote my way out of this situation. I can’t peacefully object. I can’t exit. Nor can I petition the courts for redress, as
the Supreme Court has specifically ruled that the Bill of Rights doesn’t apply to revenue matters. (See Lehnhausen v. Lake Shore Auto Parts Co ... a 9-0 decision.) I understand no one will feel sorry for me. The vast majority of folks will continue to vote. And what they’ll vote for is more and more of my wallet. They are the proverbial wolves. And I am the proverbial sheep. When the sheep complains, the wolves just laugh. That’s fine with me... I will get the last laugh.
This system will eventually destroy our country, just
as abuses like these have destroyed every democracy in history.
You see, this system will inevitably lead to more and more government, higher and higher taxes, and bigger and bigger deficits. This system will eventually destroy our country, just as abuses like these have destroyed every democracy in history. Along the way, with a very small intellectual advantage, I will earn far more from various non-reported speculations (gold, silver, foreign real estate, etc.) than the government will be able to tax. The sheep may be shorn... But he will not be eaten. The wolves, meanwhile, will soon be feeding on each other. This kind of progressive tax structure, where a tiny fraction of the population pays for essentially all of the government’s spending, creates the illusion that the government and its services are free. Our system is a lie. The lie is that you can live at the expense of your neighbor.
38 October 2018
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