(urth) Gene Wolfe Fans Talk Politics (Again)
Adam Thornton
adam at io.com
Tue May 19 12:39:04 PDT 2009
On May 19, 2009, at 2:27 PM, brunians at brunians.org wrote:
> Please do explain how consensual taxation works: I am all ears.
This one's easy.
The government provides services I find beneficial, such as police and
fire protection, maintained roads, public education, and so forth.
On balance, the amount I'm paying for those services seems broadly
fair. Sure, there are inefficiences--waste, corruption, places money
is spent where I think it shouldn't be and things that don't get
funded that I think should be--but I am much more in favor of it than
I would be of a zero-taxation Hobbesian war of all against all. I
lack the ruthlessness (not to mention physical conditioning) necessary
to survive for long in *that* world.
Therefore, taxation is, at least for me, consensual. Sure, that
doesn't mean I don't think it can improve--that's why I vote on local
taxation-related ballot initiatives, for instance--but it represents
something much closer to my ideal state than its absence would.
Adam
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