Gary North asks, “What would libertarians – even conservatives – give today in order to return to an era in which the central government extracted 1% of the nation’s wealth? Where there was no income tax?
Would they describe such a society as tyrannical?”
Which leads to another question, “can a government be tyrannical absent an income tax?” I say “yes.” While a tax on income is oppressive, governments often pass laws and regulations which hinder individual freedom. There are oppressive laws and regulations on how business is conducted – supposedly passed for “public safety” which serve only to hinder entrepreneurs from staring new businesses. There are also laws which violate individual privacy, freedom to travel as one sees fit, consume substances as one desires and seek medical treatment as one wishes. During an interview with Aaron Russo, Congressman Ron Paul said, “there’s not much we can do without permission,… you can’t open up a business, you can’t develop land, you can hardly do anything, you can’t go to the doctor without government knowing what you are doing. They talked about medical privacy, that is gone. Financial privacy, that’s gone. The right to own property, that is essentially gone. You have to get permission from government on almost everything, and that is a definition of a police state.”
Though I wonder if Mr. North would say that a police state isn’t tyrannical if taxation were low? One may ask how a police state could exist with low taxation; I believe such tyranny could exist with fees and fines. In most jurisdictions Police Officers have become revenue generators as opposed to the “peace officers” of a generation ago.
Now to answer Mr. North’s original questions, “What would libertarians – even conservatives – give today in order to return to an era in which the central government extracted 1% of the nation’s wealth? Where there was no income tax?
Would they describe such a society as tyrannical?”
Theft of 1% of wealth is still theft! As I mention above, tyranny can exist absent an income tax, especially when one doesn’t have a right to free speech, privacy or the ability to travel or conduct business as one sees fit.
I urge you to stay true to the concepts that formed this country; the belief that all men are created equal & endowed with rights that cannot be taken away, Life, Liberty & the Pursuit of Happiness and that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it.
Has the current government of these United States of America become destructive of freedom? Yes, therefore it is past time we abolish it!