Matt Davies for August 20, 2009

Income Tax. The greatest pox foisted on humanity from the mind of my namesake. It means: you have no privacy from the government. We can’t do good things for the needy if we don’t have access to your money. Dear Leader wants to do a lot of good for the disadvantaged minions. The IRS is like community organizing. They may have to break a few eggs.

Really? is it a pox, or more of a plague?

Income tax was an English invention! (Take that GNW, ha!)

“Income Tax was announced in 1798, and introduced in 1799, as a means of paying for the war against the French forces under Napoleon.”

Of course taxes in some shape or form existed before, like with the bloody Romans:

“What Have The Romans Ever Done For Us

Reg:They’ve bled us white, the bastards. They’ve taken everything we had, not just from us, from our fathers and from our fathers’ fathers. Stan:And from our fathers’ fathers’ fathers. Reg:Yes. Stan: And from our fathers’ fathers’ fathers’ fathers. Reg: All right, Stan. Don’t labour the point. And what have they ever given us in return? (he pauses smugly) Xerxes: The aqueduct? Reg: What? Xerxes: The aqueduct. Reg: Oh yeah, yeah they gave us that. Yeah. That’s true. Masked Commando: And the sanitation! Stan: Oh yes … sanitation, Reg, you remember what the city used to be like. Reg: All right, I’ll grant you that the aqueduct and the sanitation are two things that the Romans have done … Matthias: And the roads … Reg: (sharply) Well yes obviously the roads … the roads go without saying. But apart from the aqueduct, the sanitation and the roads … Another Masked Commando: Irrigation … Other Masked Voices: Medicine … Education … Health Reg: Yes … all right, fair enough … Commando Nearer The Front: And the wine … General Audience: Oh yes! True! Francis: Yeah. That’s something we’d really miss if the Romans left, Reg. Masked Commando At Back: Public baths! Stan: And it’s safe to walk in the streets at night now. Francis: Yes, they certainly know how to keep order … (general nodding) … let’s face it, they’re the only ones who could in a place like this. (more general murmurs of agreement) Reg: All right … all right … but apart from better sanitation and medicine and education and irrigation and public health and roads and a freshwater system and baths and public order … what have the Romans done for us? Xerxes: Brought peace! Reg: (very angry, he’s not having a good meeting at all) What!? Oh … (scornfully) Peace, yes … shut up! [From MontyPython’s LifeOfBrian]

Oops, Rome fell

but they did provide some nice technology. I read it was hundreds of years before the standard of living in some of the places they conquered returned to the same level it was under roman rule. But like Friedman says “I’d rather live in a free country, even if the standard of living is lower” (although if it free he said it wouldn’t be, and he was right)). Some people value freedom more than others.

Actually Rome planted a certain level of technology but then stifled creativity and innovation quite thoroughly. There’s a reason it took ‘til the Renaissance to start really innovating again.

Friedman and the Chicago boys, masters in a world of economic slavery- assume we’re talking Milton Friedman?

The same Nobel prize winner. A genious – actually both he AND his wife. Anti-State Slavery… I guess someone wouldn’t like him if the thought they were anointed (should be in charge because their vision is correct and should be forced on others) or you though you were entitled to something you hadn’t earned.

As omQ R’s example shows, standing armies and foreign wars cost money (when everything is included, the annual cost of the US military is at least a milllion million US dollars). Prior to this time, the British government had been able to make ends meet with taxes on things like tea - around the time of the Boston Tea Party (the one in 1773, not later versions), up to one tenth of the government’s income was derived from the tax on tea (which is why the Tea Party wasn’t greeted with a yawn - it could have had significant economic consequences)….

Henri

PS : For your information, ynnek58, the prize awarded to Mr Friedman was not a «Nobel prize», stipulated in Alfred Nobel’s will, but the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, an entirely different kettle of fish….

Thanks for the correction – that was an easy one to make (a little confusing). He’s still a genius.

I agree we have too much stationed abroad – very expensive – they should shoulder a larger portion of their own defense.

I wonder if Roe v. Wade can be applied to the IRS?