(03-25-2023, 09:55 AM)Lucky2Last Wrote: Taxation isn't theft. Taxation without representation is theft. There's a decent argument to be made that taxation that comes from the federal government is theft. However, that argument becomes less viable as you move to local taxes.

If you're an adult and you don't get a vote on your taxes, that's tyranny or peonage, but not theft.  Tyranny is the use of government power contrary to the interests of the majority of adults, or, without their consent. Taxes easily become tyranny, sadly.

I agree that our federal government is dangerously close to tyranny, because many (perhaps even most) adults don't get a meaningful vote on who will represent them.  And those that do are often in rigged/gerrymandered districts.  The same argument applies to state level taxes in many states.  Thankfully Florida has turned back that trend at the state level, though our current governor is trying to reverse the progress at the federal level.  Undoing and banning gerrymandering, and reducing polarization through ranked-choice voting, are the projects our generation must take up to extend the life of our Republic.

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