[auctiontheory]

Perhaps. Did you use any of the resources and infrastructure of the economy and society to earn that money? Did you in any way use or depend on the legal system? The financial system? The roads? Internet? Phones? The financial system? Law and order? Was your education in any way supported by public funds?

If you can answer no to every question, is the same also true for all of your paying customers?

[briandear]

I pay taxes. That doesn't mean that I owe the government for every accomplishment that I've achieved. You seem to subscribe to Obama's "You didn't build it" statement.

You also fail to acknowledge that a large majority of the spending you've described could be privately run. I'm not suggesting that it should be, however, it's possible some of it could be. If I went to a private school supported by no government money, does that mean I ought to pay taxes to that private school if I happen to become a billionaire? After all, if it weren't for that school, I wouldn't have the education to have built something that made me a billionaire.

Well that's bullshit. I pay a gas tax to drive on the road. I pay a telephone excise tax as well as state and local taxes. I also pay sales tax. I pay property tax, I pay school taxes. I pay taxes on buying and registering a car, I pay taxes when I sell and transfer the title to a car. I pay parking taxes, airport taxes, airline taxes.

I don't owe government a "debt" because of my success any more than government owes me anything because of my failure.

[auctiontheory]

That doesn't mean that I owe the government for every accomplishment that I've achieved. You seem to subscribe to Obama's "You didn't build it" statement.

I didn't say you owe the government for every accomplishment. But perhaps I have a different perspective, which is hard to convey over a message board, from having traveled and lived in several countries where the government does not enable the infrastructure (legal, financial, etc.) for businesses to thrive that we enjoy in the US.

Unless you believe that Americans are genetically superior Übermensch, you have to give some credit to "the system" for making the success of this economy, relative to most of the world, possible. And your taxes, to the extent that they are wisely spent, support that system and ensure its survival.

[MAGZine]

So when are we going to pay taxes for writing OSS? I mean, it was either taught to us by government-subsidized education, or we learnt it from the internet which is also government subsidized. The licenses which you license your software under are a product of the legal climate, generated by the legal system, etc etc etc.

Look, all of this is ridiculous. I'm all for taxing business, but honestly, taxes on the house (the structure itself, the materials) have been long paid, and property taxes are being paid. If anything, I'd think that this would be a zoning issue, which would be handled by municipalities. But even then, I tend to agree that unless if your neighbors are taking issue with it, then taxes/fees should be kept at an absolute minimum, if not zero.

e: on top of that, the money which he used to buy his house (with tax) as well as pay the annual property tax is ITSELF taxed by income tax. How many levels of taxing are appropriate? Honestly.

[Xylakant]

> So when are we going to pay taxes for writing OSS?

Yes, sure, absolutely, we already do. It's a percentage of what you earned writing said OSS. I sometimes get paid by clients to write code that later gets open sourced and yes, sure, I pay regular income tax on that. If you didn't earn any money, well then the government cut is zero USD, just as it is when you give your room away for free to strangers.

[MAGZine]

I can't say I disagree with any of this, though it still feels wrong to otherwise pay taxes on something like renting a room in this instance. It's your property, what business is it of the government's?

[Xylakant]

Rent income is income.

> It's your property, what business is it of the government's?

You could argue that renting an apartment puts a burden on the community - the people that rent it need to drive there, they use public roads and public resources. However, that argument is false. The argument behind taxes is that there is a government that allocates certain resources towards community goals - security, infrastructure, welfare. These resources need to be paid for and so the government raises taxes - on income, on property, on cars etc. All the money collected gets redistributed and none of it is tied to the sector it came from: My income tax pays for roads, railways, kindergardens alike even though I don't own a car and rarely drive and don't have any kids. And the legislative decided that renting a room is a taxable action and that's it - like it or not. It's really as simple as that.

[auctiontheory]

You don't have absolute property rights.

I am not a lawyer, but I believe that lawyers spend lots of time discussing who has "an interest" in whatever issue. In any given case there can be multiple competing "rights" and "interests." Your property rights are only one among those. Property rights do not trump all other rights and interests. (I'm sure I'm not using the precise terminology, but you get the idea.)

Here's one link: http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Balancing+of+C...

[auctiontheory]

Oops. I must have "the financial system" on my brain tonight.

[testdrive5]

Dude, cut the crap, will you? I already pay OTHER taxes for that. The roads? I pay road tax. The water? I pay water tax. The financials? I pay income tax.

This is my property which I bought with no help from the government. No subsidies, no discounts, nothing. But why do they want my money again? This is double taxation, dude.