Reflections for Tax Day

George Washington once truly opined, "No taxes can be devised which are not more or less inconvenient and unpleasant."  While this is true, we should always attempt to make taxation as fair as possible and strictly confined to its constitutional limits. Sadly, our current system is both unfair and unconstitutional in a number of ways (look to graduated income taxes for a good example).


Government is force, and taxation come at the point of a gun. If you question the truth of that statement, refuse to comply with tax collection and you will see its truth. It should be a primary goal of ours to only levy taxes based on consumption and confine all taxation to what is necessary and proper to meet the demands of government's specified constitutional duties.

Based on one's own humanity, one has the right to keep the fruits of one's own labor. Any attempt to remove that fruit without the consent of those being taxed is plunder--legal or otherwise. As members of a free society we must strive to defeat this plunder.

My problem is not necessarily with taxation. In a constitutional society we have agreed to the collection of some of our wealth to meet certain pre-agreed upon government functions. These functions are clearly defined in our constitution. Therefore, being taxed for government functions and services not defined in the Constitution is where the problem lies. 

Because we have gone far beyond constitutional boundaries in the functions and services of our government, we now have a bigger bill to foot than we should. Our problem is not that we are undertaxed--quite the opposite. Rather, our problem is that our government is involved in unconstitutional activities that demand more of our money. This is wrong, and it is illegal.

Any fight against taxation should find its battle cry in a demand for a return to constitutional government and a stop to the provision of unconstitutional services--charitable or otherwise. Not only can we not afford to meet the current unconstitutional demands of government with our taxes, liberty cannot endure such demands.