Are Property Taxes Unethical?

[BAllen]

And if we paid directly for a teacher, then they would remember who they work for. Instead, they seem to think they are in control and that they work for the gov (who is that?) instead of us.

Then how would the govt program the next generation?

 

[Wesker1982]

All taxation is theft. So... YEP.

 

[brandon]

I know the Austrian dogma is that monopolies are impossible in a free market. I kind of agree. Land ownership is the one thing that gives me doubt though. What if a single company bought the entire waterfront on a 100 mile stretch of a major river? No one else could use the river but them. There would be no competition. If there were no property taxes it would cost them nothing to maintain the blockade. Property tax is the one driving force that makes it uneconomical for a company to hold land they aren't using.

I'm all for private property ownership in most cases, but the concept of owning land that you don't use doesn't sit quite right with me.

 

[brandon]

All taxation is theft. So... YEP.

All taxation may be theft, but all land ownership can be looked at as theft too. The Europeans came here and stole it from the people that were currently using it. We are trading in stolen goods. Land ownership is a government construct. Without a government enforcing your property lines they wouldn't exist.

 

[purplechoe]

yup, we're pretty much there...

 

[CT4Liberty]

I've actually been writing up something specifically about this. Property tax, is probably the most heinous and overtly immoral tax we have as it completely goes against the basic tenant of property rights.

If someone has the ability to tax something, for no other reason than because they can...then they are the legal owners of it. This would mean that we do not have any property rights, the government is the sole owner of our houses and cars and we merely rent them.

Once I'm done working on my piece I'll post here for some suggestions and feedback, heres a snippet:

It has come to occur to me that not all taxes are created equal and while I do not presume to know the most just, I do find certain taxes to be more egregious than others.

The first to which I find so overtly immoral is the Property Tax. I believe that one of, if not the, most important roles of any Government is the protection of Property Rights. It is the most basic principle of any society that you may not steal from your neighbor. It is also imperative, in a free society, that any person is entitled to the fruits of their labor and thus without private property, there can be no Liberty.

The idea that the simple act of owning property gives the Government the right to tax it means that there is no ownership of property at all. If the Government, by use of force, can confiscate an individual’s home or vehicle for failure to pay a tax on it, then by that very definition the ownership lies solely with the Government, the individual is merely a renter.

 

[CT4Liberty]

All taxation is theft. So... YEP.

I dont know if everyone agrees with the definition of a usage fee as a tax or not...but if you do, then I dont consider that theft.

If they pay for a bridge/highway with tolls, and you only pay those tolls by using the bridge/highway...then I do not consider that theft. Same with a garbage service, etc. If a town wants to provide a garbage service and charges a fee for using it, as long as they dont outlaw other people from creating their own garbage service and charging for it, to create competition, I dont see the issue (although, I have a feeling the government run service will quickly be put out of business via lower prices/better service of the private companies)

 

[Danan]

I dont know if everyone agrees with the definition of a usage fee as a tax or not...but if you do, then I dont consider that theft.

If they pay for a bridge/highway with tolls, and you only pay those tolls by using the bridge/highway...then I do not consider that theft. Same with a garbage service, etc. If a town wants to provide a garbage service and charges a fee for using it, as long as they dont outlaw other people from creating their own garbage service and charging for it, to create competition, I dont see the issue (although, I have a feeling the government run service will quickly be put out of business via lower prices/better service of the private companies)

http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/tax

Definition of tax
noun
1a compulsory contribution to state revenue, levied by the government on workers' income and business profits, or added to the cost of some goods, services, and transactions:
higher taxes will dampen consumer spending
a tax on fuel

I don't see fees, tolls, etc. as taxes. But as you mentioned it gets complicated if they demand tolls for highways or fees for schools and at the same time prohibit private competition or at least hamper competition in a way a participant in a free market couldn't do it. Although I still wouldn't see the toll/fee as the main problem in that case, but rather the additional laws/regulations/etc. that impede the free market.

 

[CT4Liberty]

http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/tax


I don't see fees, tolls, etc. as taxes. But as you mentioned it gets complicated if they demand tolls for highways or fees for schools and at the same time prohibit private competition or at least hamper competition in a way a participant in a free market couldn't do it. Although I still wouldn't see the toll/fee as the main problem in that case, but rather the additional laws/regulations/etc. that impede the free market.

Yeah - definitely not everyone agrees that a government usage fee is a tax... personally, I see anything the government makes me pay as a tax, so a toll is a tax to me and one that I dont think is a bad way of going about it.

 

[Danan]

Yeah - definitely not everyone agrees that a government usage fee is a tax... personally, I see anything the government makes me pay as a tax, so a toll is a tax to me and one that I dont think is a bad way of going about it.

If they are just as any other private usage fees, why putting them in a different category? To be a tax, a payment has to have a uniquely defining cretrion imho. And that is: you have to pay for a service whether or not you want to use it and irrespective to what extend.

Or to put it differently, a transaction on an unregulated market that is not the result of voluntary trade between individuals is based on taxation. Also, if a voluntary transaction that would occur on a free market cannot happen due to regulation and instead the second best public option is chosen "voluntarily" via payment of a fee to a public entity, that might still be called a special form of taxation.

 

[BAllen]

yup, we're pretty much there...

That's amazing. Right to the point. Where did you get that? We need pamphlets like that to hand out.