Tax Rebellions

[Lloyd Danforth]

I remember when that happened.  A little good news in a sea of bad

[Russell Kanning]

 The Rocky Road of American Taxation
by Charles Adams
http://www.mises.org/story/2110

[Moorlock]

A key part of Gandhi's program for Independence in India was to get people to produce their own goods so they would not be helping to fund the British occupation, directly and indirectly, by buying from British monopolies.

He insisted that Indian revolutionaries should wear only clothes made from thread spun in India.  And in his famous salt march, he led India to harvest its own salt rather than buying taxed salt from the government monopoly.  These were campaigns that were very symbolically and practically powerful in enlisting mass support for independence.

In the U.S. today there's a federal excise tax on alcoholic beverages, including beer. (http://www.rollbackthebeertax.com/)

Brew your own! (http://www.instructables.com/ex/i/9AE1D9CE21D61029BC6B001143E7E506/?ALLSTEPS)

It's legal, it's fun, and it's delicious.  It's not technically civil disobedience (since it's legal), but if that annoys you, try selling your homebrew to your friends (that'll piss off the BATF) or move on to distilling spirits (which isn't legal yet).

[Russell Kanning]

I agree .... we could also distribute beer without involving the government.

[Bruehound]

An emerging underground beer marketplace...? I can't wait to move now!!!!!
Scott

[Russell Kanning]

One guy is going to brew "free" beer ..... we just have to build the place to pass it out..... and they will come.

[citizen_142002]

A lot of people would do it, but they would want to be sure  they weren't going to be alone.

"I won't pay my state or local property taxes, but only if xxxx other people in the city of Keene won't either."

[Russell Kanning]

I don't think it will work well that way.

I look at it from the point of view of:
Is it moral for me to pay taxes? If yes, then I should pay, whether or not everyone else does. If no, then I should stop paying immediately and not wait for a group to join me.

Do you think it is right and good for you to pay taxes to the federal government?

[citizen_142002]

Russell,
        I've heard old time Republicans talking about doing this, and not because they are morally opposed to every single tax. Some people just think taxes are way too high, and are ready to stop paying them as a way to get taxes and spending under control. The point this guy made was that if half of Lebanon stopped paying taxes, they couldn't jail all of them.

I think that it's pretty true. If you just want to cast a spotlight on the injustice of paying taxes, then I think individual action is the way to go. If you're trying to immediately force the city government to adjust their spending, and immediately force them to drastically reduce and reform taxes, then a movement of solidarity is the way to go.

[Russell Kanning]

I think not paying temporarily to get the taxes down some sounds like a good idea too.

[Recumbent ReCycler]

Some in the state house didn't like the federal income taxes, and appear to have wanted a statewide tax revolt.
http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/legislation/2004/HB1193.html
http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/legislation/2004/HB1245.html

[Russell Kanning]

those insurgents!!

[tracysaboe]

I remember those.

Any chance those can be reintrodused again this year?  Benson would have passed something like that. Doubtful Lynch would -- but you never know.

TRacy

[PowerPenguin]

Another indirect but still important tie-in to all this is to always be sure to use the ALD when possible, and try to buy from other pro-liberty people at no tax.

[zrated]

roger pilon is the main reason that my respect for cato has dropped recently. he sent me an article he wrote about why the war in iraq IS constitutional, when it clearly isn't. he always seems to be on the side of government with a nod to those who are right sometimes.

i'm an army reservist right now and i must continue to pay taxes since the constitution allows it. we take a "so help me God" oath to support and protect the constitution, so as long as my contract is in effect i have to do that. my insistence that orders to iraq or afganistan must be refused my military members is also based on that, so i have to support taxation to remain philosophically consistent. when my contract runs out, i'll be free to oppose everything that's wrong, like taxation, no matter what the deeply flawed constitution says about it.

i just wonder what would really happen if you stopped paying taxes. will someone eventually show up at your door with a gun and force you to prison? what if you were to treat that person the same way you might any other who came to take your stuff? the money i make is MINE - period. who decides what should be done with it? ME. anyone who attempts to take what is mine, regardless of their armamaent, is subject to resistance. we'll see what happens in 2012, i guess.