By Patrick Samuels, author of: “Memories of a Former American”

We will begin with the area that was one of the primary motivations for the colonists to declare their independence from Great Britain-Taxes. Suffice it so say that the amount of taxes England sought to impose upon those Americans do not hold a candle to the taxes we already pay our imperial national government today.  All governments require taxes to perform their functions and we all grudgingly admit the necessity of paying them.  Our government has taken upon itself a myriad of functions it was never designed to perform and has therefore required large amounts of money.  It is not the purpose of this section to debate the legitimate functions of government.  Instead we will concern ourselves primarily with the morality and justice of taxing particular areas of human endeavor and for general purpose those taxes are utilized.

Thomas Jefferson stated that “government should not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned.”  All governments require money to operate.  Obviously, the smaller the government, the less it will require.  Consider, however, where the government gets this money.  Again, obviously, it taxes its citizens and it is right to do so.  Governments are a form of voluntary organization among free people to accomplish ends they are not able to do as individuals.  Because these individuals have contracted together in such a fashion, there is the expectation that they will support their creation.  However, the people retain the rights they received from their creator under the contract and the government has no right to infringe upon those rights.  When it does, we consider it tyrannical.

Back to taxes.  An individual should be able to provide for his basic necessities-food, clothing and shelter, without having to pay a fee to the government to be allowed to do so.  If I am not free to purchase food without paying a tax, I am a mere servant to a government that will allow me the privilege of eating only if I pay a fee.  If I can live on my property only as long as I continue to pay a tax, the property is not mine, I merely rent it from the government.  Consider also the exercise of our rights to speech, worship and protection.  If the government taxes and regulates these activities they are no longer rights but privileges granted by government that can be limited or revoked at any time.

Let us consider another area of taxation.  An individual should be able to contract with another for the free exchange of goods and labor.  If I exchange my labor for the goods or the medium of exchange (money) that provide my basic necessities, the government should not tax that exchange.  We refer to such taxes as income taxes.  But our ability to utilize our labor, physical or intellectual, to provide for our necessities is a fundamental right.  If the government requires a fee for our labor, working is now a privilege that can only be exercised as long as the tax is paid. Consider what happens if the tax is not paid.  One ends up in prison and the privilege for gainful employment is over.  The point of all of this is that the government does not have the right to tax the exercise of our fundamental rights.  If it does we are no longer free people and our rights are no longer rights but privileges that are dependent upon the whims of those in power.

There is no question that government at all levels in these United States believes it has the right to tax and regulate our rights to life, liberty, property and even our pursuit of happiness.  Let us consider first what most people think of when they hear the word “tax”-income tax.  Legally or illegally, government at all levels collects tax on our labor even though that free exchange of labor for goods should not be subject to a tax.  Through intimidation and perpetuation of misconception, the government has duped up into willingly complying with its demands.  The so called “tax freedom day” is now pushing six months.  That means we work for the government six months out of the year.  That means that for those six months we gain no benefit from the fruits of our labor, it goes to inept politicians and is consumed by a wasteful bureaucracy whose sole purpose is to find more ways to tax and regulate our lives.  In some states the people still believe that the government does not have the right to our labor for free and those people should not be subject to a immoral tax imposed upon them by the national government.

If the income tax is immoral on the grounds it violates our fundamental rights, the Social Security tax is immoral on the same grounds that makes Bernie Madoff one of the most reviled men in America.  Here is another area where the national government lies to us and perpetuates misconceptions.  The common belief is that we pay into social security and there is a government account with our name on it where those funds are accumulating until we retire.  Most people know that there is not actually money in the so called “trust fund”, it is just a bunch of government IOUs because the money really went right into the general fund.  The reality is, there was never a trust fund and social security was not set up to be anything more than a pay-as-you-go program.  People working today have their money confiscated by the government and it is given to those who are no longer working.  Like a ponzi scheme, it works rather well when lots of people are paying in a few are taking money out.  However, that time is at an end.  Now, instead of a sixteen to one ratio, it will soon be two to one.  It is unsustainable and immoral.  It is immoral because the government has no right to take my money and give it to someone else for any reason.  It is no different that if a thug came and stole my wallet and gave it to a homeless person.  The homeless person may need help and I may be inclined to give it but is still thievery if a third party forces me to do so against my will.  It is also immoral because it makes people dependent upon a government that will not be able to live up to its promises.  When those who are nearing retirement or are recently retired have their benefits cut because there is no longer enough money coming in, they will find themselves in dire straights.  It is immoral because it destroys the family unit, taking the responsibility children have for their aging parents and placing it upon the government.  It is immoral because it disincentives personal responsibility and creates dependency, which is the enemy of liberty.  We should not be forced to be part of a reckless scheme that is bankrupting the country morally and financially, a scheme that puts those in the private sector in jail.

The tax collected for Medicare and Medicaid is immoral on may of thesame grounds and others.  It is based on our income, it is “legal” thievery, it destroys personal responsibility and creates dependency.   What I would like to focus on with Medicare, however, is the waste, fraud and abuse as well as the fact that the Medicare system itself and government intervention in health care that is destroying the system that is the very best in the world.  This is not the place to detail the waste, fraud and abuse in the Medicare system but only to say that everyone acknowledges that it is there and that it is substantial.  Even president Obama has stated that there are hundreds of billions of dollars in waste and fraud.  It is a fact that government bureaucracies are inefficient and subject to corruption.  The larger the bureaucracy, the greater the waste and corruption.  Out of all government programs this is probably the worst.   On top of that is the fact that the program itself is making health care less affordable to everyone else by driving up costs through government regulation and payout structures.  It is incomprehensible to me why we would trust government with the entire health care system when it has made such a mess of it just by inserting itself in the limited way it has.  We should not be forced to continue to contribute and participate in a system that is not only wasteful and corrupt but is leading to the destruction of the health care system we rely on for the maintenance of our fundamental right to life.  I disagree with those who say that health care is not a right because health care is inseparable from our right to life and happiness.  Because it is a right, the government has no more authority to control my access and utilization of it than it does my right to speech, protection or property.  My access to health care should depend solely on my ability to trade my labor or property for it or my voluntary cooperation with others to do so and should in no way be regulated or rationed by the government.  That the government has done so and is seeking to expand its ability to do so is all the more reason to reject the system and the mindset that encourages politicians to pursue such power.

Allow an other example of legalized thievery.  We have seen the immorality of taking money from one individual by force and giving it to another individual.  President Obama rightly defines this a “redistribution of wealth” which he considers just and I consider immoral and unjust.  This occurs not only on an individual level but on a state level.  Money is taken from individuals in one state and used to pay for projects in another.  Why should the people of one state pay for a bridge, museum, water park or any other project in another?  Consider also the ramifications of all the “pork barrel projects” in the stimulus bill.  That bill was paid for with borrowed money so the national government has put debt obligations on the people of one state in order to pay for projects in another.  Would it be right to take out a loan in my neighbors name to pay for new landscaping on my friends property?  No, we would call that identity theft on a personal level.  On a state level, it is just plain theft and we should be under no obligation to continue to subject ourselves to such thievery.

There is the hidden tax of inflation that is a result of our monetary policy but that will be covered in another part of the series.   There are the unseen taxes on productivity that result from compliance with all the rules and regulations not only of tax law but all the other government agencies that impose their will upon us.   There are a host of other taxes, “nickel and dime” impositions, “sin taxes” and the fictional taxes under “cap and trade” that may be individually evaluated by the aforementioned criteria.  Ultimately, there are three main reasons why the tax structure as it exists today in the United States would be grounds for secession.  First, it is immoral and tyrannical to impose taxes on the exercise of fundamental, God given rights.  Second, the taxes collected are used for purposes not enumerated in the constitutional compact.  Finally, those taxes are collected in a manner not consistent with the Constitution, specifically Article I section 8 (1) and section 9 (4) and the Sixteenth amendment does not change these stipulations.  Any state which has voluntarily entered into a compact with the others to form a government to protect their liberty and that of their citizens would be well within its rights to secede under the breach of that contract in both law and spirit.  Considering that the American Revolution was a tax protest, it would be just and proper for people under a government that has devolved into their previous oppressor to rise up and throw off the chains of bondage once again.  http://secessionuniversity.com/2009/12/02/a-case-for-secession-taxation/