I hope to connect these three values…
but not in a way you might think of…
Justice: the act of equality… treating everyone the same,
regardless of titles, wealth, fame, material possessions,
power… the trinkets of existence…
Virtue: Behavior showing high moral standards… a paragons of
virtue… a quality considered morally good or desirable in
a person: patience is a virtue…
Taxpayer: the term ‘‘taxpayer’’ means any person subject
to a tax under the applicable revenue law…
now how do we connect these three aspects?
someone who doesn’t pay their legally owed taxes,
is considered to be a criminal… with the understanding
that paying taxes is part of being a citizen… MagsJ has
suggested that ALL American taxpayers have been
swindled, among other charges… of course, offering
no proof of her charges…
but let us back up a bit, what value does paying taxes offer
us? it is the basis of every single civilization that has ever
existed… the very basis of civilization is within the institutions
that civilization has… Rome wasn’t a civilization because of
its central location or its religion, no, Rome was a civilization because
of that society ability to afford to build roads, create infrastructure,
to have a large standing Army… all of which comes from taxes…
Rome became a great civilization not despite taxes, but because
of taxes… and this is true of every great civilization…
Look at every ‘‘great’’ country right now, the dividing line
lies within its infrastructure, its road, its schools, its institutions
like the courts and the building of hospitals…
disagree, great… name me a ‘‘great civilization’’ that wasn’t
built on its infrastructure?
The basis of all civilization is within its ability to have
institutions and an infrastructure…
let us look at ‘‘failed’’ countries right now, and the common
theme is the lack of a political structure… the lack of
institutions and infrastructure… countries like Somila
and Sudan, the Central African Republic, to name a few
are lacking in any central government strong enough
to contain its citizens… but hay, the taxes are low,
or nonexistent, that must be a good thing, right?
Mexico is heading toward a failed state and that
is because there isn’t a strong enough central government
to control the gangs and the violence within Mexico…
and compare those failed states to the successful countries…
all of which have a strong central government with, WITH the
basis of the government being taxes… the basis of having
a strong government lies within the taxes that bring in
enough money for the state/government to be able
to control its citizens… the conservative mantra of
‘‘every man for himself’’ leads us, directly lead us to
the failed state/government every single time…
You want a great America, the basis and fundamental
aspect of this lies within the amount of taxes collected…
the point of government is not, NOT to be profitable…
the point lies within the ability of the government to
establish a strong, viable country by creating
and maintaining strong institutions and the ability
to build roads, hospitals, schools, airports,
even our national parks are a part of a strong
government which is the only way we can keep
our state/ and country strong and healthy…
So, we now connect the second word, that of virtue…
In knowing that the only way, the ONLY way to keep our
society and state successful, is by paying taxes…
virtue in this instance, requires us to acknowledge
the fact that in order for America to be successful
and working, requires us to pay taxes… the costs
of a strong, successful country and state, requires
us to pay taxes…so, what about those who are able
to avoid paying taxes? if the strength of a country requires
us to pay taxes, avoiding taxes means we are attacking
the surefire method of creating a strong successful country…
the failure to pay one’s taxes is the path to making
America weak… it is by its institutions that make America
great… and to keep American strong and successful,
requires us to pay for those institutions… taxes…
There is a direct relationship between the amount of taxes
we pay and a strong and successful country/ state…
to weaken America means weaking its institutions
and infrastructure… which is the exact path that
IQ45 and the village idiot Musk are doing…
with every single institution they attack, they are
directly weakening America… reducing money to the
state is a direct path to a collapsed, failed state…
But one might argue, that to make America strong requires
us to be ‘‘efficient’’ with our money… please, go ahead
make that argument… how does efficiency make America
strong? is a great America, an efficient America?
Make that argument… it isn’t one I intend to make…
now one might claim that it is nature that is efficient, but
anyone who has studied nature, can tell you,
Nature, life is remarkable inefficient… life thrives
because it is inefficient, not because of its efficiency…
for example, the human body is not efficient at all…
studies has suggested that the human body is
around 20-25% efficient… which means that 75% or 80%
of the energy from food is lost as heat…
Muscle efficiency is around 18-26%…
Iowa cornfields are only about 1.5% efficient
at converting sunlight into chemical storage…
the Sun itself is only 0.7% efficient converting
hydrogen into energy…
we have plenty of examples of nature being very
inefficient… even cars, gasoline manmade built cars
are only 20 to 40% efficient…making energy from fuel…
if nature, doesn’t require nor demand efficiency,
then, why should we be concerned about it?
So, the pretend excuse of Musk to make government
more efficient is bullshit… and not worth our efforts because
there is no way we can make any manmade institution very
efficient… it simply can’t be done…
So, what is one way we can become a ‘‘more’’ efficient
country? and that is our third term, virtue…
to make America great is to make its institutions
and government great and that requires money,
in the form of taxes… without taxes, we cannot,
no matter how hard we try, we cannot make
America great… the one requires the other…
and so, given this, virtue in this matter is the
individual paying their share of taxes…
those like IQ45 who bragged that they pay
as little taxes as possible, for several years
IQ45 paid only $750 dollars in federal taxes…
and given that the strength of America laying
in its institutions, which can only survive by
taxes, IQ45 has damaged, severely damaged
America by withholding his taxes…and any individual
or corporation that fails to pay its taxes, is damaging
America…
My father in law before he passed away, once said that
anyone who makes a million dollars a year or more,
and pays taxes, is just being generous because the
laws are written in such a way to have millionaires
and corporations avoid taxes…my father in law,
was a CPA for decades and at one time worked
at the IRS…
and over a thousand corporations don’t pay any
taxes at all, and very wealthy individuals like
Warren Buffet, who pays a tax rate less than his
secretary, and while making billions, only paying a
fraction of his yearly income… that is exactly what
every single billionaire does… pays only a fraction of
what the average citizen pays…
So, the strength of a country lies in its institutions
and infrastructure, and very wealthy individuals don’t
contribute much or avoid taxes at all, that damages
America’s strength… which lies in its institutions
and infrastructure…when corporations don’t pay
their taxes, but uses up the resources provided
by the state/government, they are draining America
resources that they didn’t pay for… they are freeloaders
in the clearest sense of the word…When Exxon-Mobile
uses America resources but doesn’t pay for it, that is
corporate freeloading… and something that Musk
has argued for… they provide bogus arguments
about ‘‘welfare cheats’’ and cheating Social Security,
but the biggest freeloaders in America today are
the wealthy and corporations…
and how is this institutional freeloading by corporations
and wealthy individuals virtuous? How does escaping
paying one’s taxes, in any way, shape or form, holding
to virtue… I am curious as to an argument that
avoiding taxes is being virtuous… virtue is found
in avoiding paying taxes… I would love someone
to make that argument…
and we reach the third word, Justice…
is it just that, because of trinkets, wealth,
power, fame, material possessions, or titles,
means one can avoid doing things that others
must do… Justice is the act of equality…
that everyone is treated equally, regardless of
the trinkets, and given our knowledge of taxes,
we can be assured that in America, we don’t have
justice because one can avoid paying taxes
with everyone else, just by the trinkets
of existence… how is that, the act of ''Justice?"
one of the primary arguments of Socrates was that
virtue was knowledge… one who has knowledge is
going to be virtuous… and having virtue means one
will be happy… for in Socrates argument, happiness
comes from virtue… virtue and happiness are
synonymous… That isn’t an argument I would make,
but it is an argument he makes… so, paying ones
taxes, that is being virtuous, thus those who avoid
paying taxes, not being virtuous, are ‘‘unhappy’’…
well, they would be unhappy if they actually
understood the damage to America they are doing
by not paying taxes… they are literally destroying
America by their failure to pay taxes…
and they brag about that… bragging about
a lack of virtue and engaging in injustice…
Not something I would brag about, but,
hay, I have some shame… unlike idiots like
IQ45 and Musk who wouldn’t know shame if
it bit them on the ass…
so, I have connected these three items,
justice, virtue and taxpayers…
Kropotkin