There are children starving in the streets, families without homes and poverty stricken women who "need" abortions but can't afford them. So much misery and suffering in the world, and meanwhile, there are millions of greedy people who must not care at all, since they are hateful towards taxation, and sometimes even (gasp) cheat on their taxes. Unwilling to pay their fair share! Greedy bastards!
Or... maybe not. You're walking down the street with your friend Bob, and a beggar jumps out from the bushes and pleads with you for some spare change, explaining, "Why lie? I need beer!" You are so stricken with compassion for this man, so overwhelmed with his honesty and the gravity of his situation, that you... demand that Bob reach into his wallet and pull out his last ten dollar bill and give it to the beggar for beer.
Bob says, "Hell no! I don't drink at all, and this man is living on the streets because he's an alcoholic. I'm down to only ten dollars and I've got bills to pay that are about to go late. You've got a hundred dollars in your own wallet, and ten thousand dollars in your bank account. Why don't you give the guy some of your own money and leave me out of this."
Well, now you're indignant. Offended, in fact. "You are so selfish!" you say. "You never give any more than ten percent of your income to anybody! You are the most greedy, self-centered person I have ever known!You live in a studio apartment, and you drive a car that's no more than ten years old, and look at this poor guy, living on the streets! Who are you to judge him because he's an alcoholic? That could have been you!"
Bob is pissed off at this point. He begins to walk away, so you grab him by the arm, swing him around and threaten him. "If you don't give this man that ten dollars I saw in your wallet, I'm gonna beat the hell out of you!"
Bob knows you will, because he's seen you do the same thing to other people before. So, to avoid personal injury, he pulls the remaining money out of his wallet and gives it to the beggar.
Now, aren't you generous. You just gave that poor, downtrodden alcoholic ten dollars, and you should be feeling pretty good about yourself. Right?
This is the nature of taxation and redistribution. In a political scenario, you are a politician (making a salary of close to $200,000 per year, not counting the corporate gratuities you receive under the table) demanding that other people give up their hard-earned money to fund various social programs and “for the greater good” schemes that you personally believe in, but they may not. The taxpayers are Bob. Bob generously gives up ten percent of his money by donating to the various causes that he believes in, without any government coercion. However, according to you that’s not enough. He must also fund wars and secret military projects and welfare and food stamps, and other things he is completely unaware of, some of which he would be appalled at if he did know about them.
What is so generous about rich, pompous, self-inflated elected officials forcing other people to “give generously” to causes they would probably have given to voluntarily, if they had actually believed in those causes? Generosity cannot be forced on people. You be generous with your money in whatever way you like, and I’ll be generous with my money in the ways I believe are right. But the moment you begin threatening people with the looming promise of force, should they not comply, you have overstepped the boundary of philanthropy, and you have become a robber and a thief. And it is no different when voters, through a majority vote, pass a referendum that requires their neighbors to fund some public project whether they want to or not. The voter who votes for a tax increase is a thief, no different from any street thug. Those voters are using the gun and the badge of government to force other people to give up the money that rightfully belongs to them. They are the ones who have worked so hard for that money. To feed their families. To fund their own retirement plans. To build better lives for themselves and their loved ones.
Your neighbor’s money is not yours, and it is not the federal government’s money, and it is not the state’s money. When you work for income, and you get paid for your work, that money you received is the product of your own labor. It was your labor, and it is your money. No one has the right to demand that money from you at gunpoint, no matter what the “good cause” may be. If they want you to donate to charity, they can provide you with that opportunity, and you may, if you wish, volunteer to donate whatever amount of your blood, sweat and tears that you so choose.
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