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From: orb@whuxl.UUCP (SEVENER)
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Re: freedom and taxes: Reply to  JoSH
Message-ID: <459@whuxl.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 29-Jan-85 12:12:54 EST
Article-I.D.: whuxl.459
Posted: Tue Jan 29 12:12:54 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 30-Jan-85 07:11:48 EST
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> > But it isn't really ignored by the Libertarians, it is a central point of
> > most of their arguments even though they refuse to admit it.  The major
> > thing most Libertarians seem to rail about is paying taxes.  
> > ...  The only argument *against* paying taxes is that it
> > *reduces one's income* and therefore reduces one's freedom to spend
> > as much money as you might like on whatever.  But if *reducing* one
> > person's income *reduces* their freedom, then *increasing* another
> > person's income correspondingly *must* increase their freedom.
> >   tim sevener    whuxl!orb
> 
> I think this is a straw man.  Libertarians don't value "freedom" in
> the abstract, general sense: They value freedom from coercion
> (specifically, government coercion).  Otherwise they would agitate
> for all kinds of "free" services from the government like the socialists.
> 
> Another problem with this analysis is that it presumes the utilitarian
> point of view, namely that one should strive to maximize some  "good"
> over the sum of all society, a view that is abhorrent to libertarians
> (who prefer the concept of individual rights).  Thus the argument is 
> circular.
> 
> --JoSH

Just how *is* taxation a restriction of one's freedom any different than
paying for bread in the grocery store? Certainly there is some diminution
of freedom in being excuded from the use of a piece of bread unless a
fee is paid.  Taxation represents a similar diminution of freedom:
one has to give up a certain amount of money ("universal exchange value")
to enjoy the benefits provided by government. My point is that the
*only* way in which taxation is a restriction of freedom is *economic*:
otherwise it in no way *coerces* one to do anything per se.  It is up
to Libertarian attackers of taxation to prove that it in any way
reduces people's freedom in anything other than economic terms.
If taxation can only be criticized because it reduces one's economic
freedom *to* spend more money, then Libertarians are no longer arguing
only for a "freedom from" versus "freedom to".  The utilitarian view
is implicit in Libertarian critiques of taxation: which was precisely
my point.  Once one concedes the importance of increasing economic
freedom (by increasing income) then arguments in favor of some equitable
distribution of economic freedom have the same validity as arguments
against taxation.
  
Again, it is up to *Libertarians* who attack taxation to prove that taxation
is a diminution of freedom in other than economic terms.
I anxiously await a reply................
       tim  sevener  whuxl!orb