[jmcgough]

> A company exists because one or more people risked wealth in order to create a net positive system

What about companies that exist solely as rent seekers? TurboTax is a net negative on society - congress has tried repeatedly to simply mail people a bill or refund, instead of the silly song and dance we go through now, but Intuit has lobbied aggressively to prevent this.

[ccffpphh]

Under the current government system, they clearly provide value - otherwise they wouldn't exist. Whether the government is complicit in their existence is another matter entirely - but they're not just making money appear out of thin air. They clearly provide value in streamlining the spaghetti nest of the tax code for average consumers.

The issue is with government enabling the monopoly.

[jlawson]

Only possible thanks to government policy wielded through regulatory capture. Not a free market outcome.

[dmitriid]

Ok then. What would taxes look like in a "free market" where "no one is entitled to anything"?

[OCASM]

There would be no taxes, only voluntary cooperation.

[dmitriid]

What is this ideal world, I want to live in it.

Reality and all of history tells us that doesn't work at scale.

[OCASM]

The US used to have very little taxation. It worked fine then. Ever increasing government reach wasn't always the norm.

[dmitriid]

When was this "very little taxation that worked"?