The Government needs your handouts

We're all familiar with the stories of criminal fraud, scandalous waste, and senseless abuse wrought by governments around the world, but how often do we seriously reflect on the driving force that preserves this institution? I've noticed that every time I eat out the state of California gets 50 cents of my purchase. Being the most populated state in the imperial union, that kind of change really adds up. I'm not going to question here the various ways and means by which this money is wasted. Rather, I'm noticing that, as powerful we might think the government is, it doesn't (nor could it afford to) do it's own collection. And that means it obligates you (and businesses) to act as tax accountants and collectors.

I've done some transactions through craigslist and noticed they were all done through cash. The practice is so well established, that participants simply assume that's the currency of choice. I'm not reporting the money I have received for the stuff that I have sold (used goods mostly sell at a loss anyway), nor do I expect that other sellers report themselves to the government. It's a beautiful anarchy!

All of the transactions that I've engaged in have been low dollar items, where the cost of reporting outweighs any benefit. The government didn't take part in these voluntary exchanges and I see no reason it should get a percentage cut. To prove that point, simply observe that the government doesn't even know about the exchange unless one of the parties turns hirself in. And where's the benefit in that?

Of course salary is different. Because my employer reports my monthly earnings, that income is not invisible to the government accountants. In order to remain in business companies have to file with a government registry that ties them to a tax ID number. Simply by being registered, companies become taxable entities. Big brother even offers two prongs of a pitchfork to get cooperation. On one prong the company avoids a swat raid by reporting on itself, while on the other it can reduce taxable profits by reporting salaries paid to employees as an expense item. Once the company reports my salary as an expense, I have to report it as income or the government trolls will notice that the finances don't balance.

But the government doesn't offer any company or individual an accountant to track and record the taxes. Instead, they rely on self-reporting, in a clear violation of the 5th amendment. Consequently, multi-state and multi-national firms have armies of accountants trying to navigate all the ambiguous, conflicting, and self-inconsistent rules. Not only is the tax itself a clear expense, but the tracking and accounting is too!

Both the size and complexity of the tax code have experience exponential growth. But you can't use that as an excuse when they pre-determine some trumped up guilt and audit your ass. US government courts have ruled, in the 1987 case Boulez v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue that following advice from an IRS agent in order to clarify what must be reported is not enough to avoid self-incrimination. The IRS isn't liable if they tell you a wrongful interpretation of their own rules. But you are!

So why do we each report on our own activity? Especially, with the danger of self-incrimination?

If everyone in the country decided not to rat themselves out one year, the government wouldn't have even close to the prison space or police force to round us all up. With public opinion so anti-government, they wouldn't last as long as a snowflake in hell. I can only conclude that we don't do this because government has more organization than its citizenry.

Government retains a standing army of men with guns, and they will go after me if I neglect to line their pockets. Those officers have become inured to the injustice of the situation and think it's "just part of the job" to harass me, plus the revenue pays for their own salary and pension. We freemen haven't yet found a way to band enough people together in a tax strike, so that it outnumbers government's capacity for enforcement. In valuing freedom and independence, we lack a strong forceful mechanism that might prevent defection on the agreement to neglect payment of taxes.

There is a next best step. It fortunately remains wide open, and is getting wider. As individuals who value freedom, who are too lazy for diligent accounting, and who don't like paying a third of their income to the government that represses us all, we can simply more to the black market. Earn income through cash (or bitcoin!!) in ways the government doesn't track. Then, if you don't bother reporting it, government simply won't know.

If the government wants to collect your money, the accounting expense should be on them. Don't give them the free labor of self-reporting. Calculate your hourly salary, multiply by the hours you spend on their frustrating forms, and deduct it from your taxes. If the government needs your labor, they should be made to pay for it.

And now for something completely different! All this talk of the underground market has reminded the good Admiral of his pirating experiences chart(er)ing the wide accountan-cy.