[bm3719]

Hello, neighbor. I dropped off a bag of groceries for you (food being essential for life). That'll be $500, by the way.

If for some reason you refuse to pay for these basic services, I will then be forced to destroy your livelihood and possibly imprison you.

[TheColorYellow]

Your neighbor is not the government and has no qualities of what a government has.

Taxation is a necessary form of funding to the entities that are responsible for managing negative externalities.The fact that they have a monopoly on violence is also a boon to society.

Taxation and the state as the primary power are fundamental components to the modern social contract. The onus is on naysayers to rovide proof that a system that lacks these components is better.

[Ancapistani]

> The onus is on naysayers to rovide proof that a system that lacks these components is better.

This is true only if they are arguing another system is better.

I would argue that our current system - including taxation - is immoral. Whether or not it’s “better” by whatever standard you choose to apply has no bearing on that argument.

This is the difference between the deontological and utilitarian perspectives.

[dennis_jeeves]

lol, that exactly how taxation works. You are forced to pay something which you did not ask for.

Ofcourse the pro-taxation crowd simply does does not understand this - they argue that you did indeed make use of the bag of groceries. Huh? chicken-and-egg really....

[orwin]

I'd rather have police than private militia, but I'm not living in the us so I understand if you rather have the former.

And if you did, i and a bunch of other would pool our money together to order hits on strike breakers. World would be fun again until ww3