{"id":2910,"date":"2016-02-04T13:41:38","date_gmt":"2016-02-04T18:41:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.zeroaggressionproject.org\/?p=2910"},"modified":"2016-02-04T13:41:38","modified_gmt":"2016-02-04T18:41:38","slug":"taxation-is-theft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zeroaggressionproject.org\/how-to-think\/taxation-is-theft\/","title":{"rendered":"How taxation makes government less effective"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Violence-based funding (taxation) delivers perverse results<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ZAPtheState\/status\/695320538030436354\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Retweet<\/a><br \/>\nMany libertarians love the slogan, \u201cTaxation is theft.\u201d Statists respond by saying, \u201cNo it\u2019s not.\u201d From there the conversation often descends into a childish round of, \u201cyes it is, no it isn\u2019t.\u201d<br \/>\nOur experience indicates it may be possible to avoid such exchanges. We\u2019ve had better results by referring to taxation as \u201cviolence-based funding.\u201d Ask your statist friends&#8230;<br \/>\n\u201cIf I declined to pay taxes for reasons of conscience, would you want to see me harmed? Would you cheer my downfall and say I had it coming? Or would you defend me and my character before your family and friends? Might you even consider becoming an activist to secure my release?\u201d<br \/>\nAfter all, when you say taxation is theft, aren&#8217;t you trying to get someone to view taxation in a different way? And\u2026<br \/>\nIf you used these personal, heart-grabbing questions instead of asserting &#8220;taxation is theft,&#8221; is it possible your statist friends could come to see the taxation issue in a <strong>slightly<\/strong> fresh and <strong>more<\/strong> accurate way?<br \/>\nLet&#8217;s be realistic. Even if they do get greater perspective &#8212; even if there&#8217;s real progress in their thinking &#8212; they\u2019ll probably still insist&#8230;<br \/>\n\u201cWe need taxes. Government couldn\u2019t function without them.\u201d<br \/>\nCan this claim be answered? We think it can be. In fact, we think it\u2019s possible to turn the tables. You can make a strong argument that taxes are highly <strong>impractical<\/strong>. Our latest Mental Lever makes this case. Check it out. Then share it with others&#8230;<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.zeroaggressionproject.org\/mental-lever\/violence-based-funding\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Is taxation impractical?<\/a><br \/>\nBy Perry Willis &amp; Jim Babka<br \/>\nPlease share this message on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/zeroaggressionproject\/posts\/1014872088551373\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/plus.google.com\/b\/108215098755229361372\/108215098755229361372\/posts\/5HUg8Ku4j5o\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Google+<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Maybe your friends think there&#8217;s no alternative to taxation. What if there was?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":925,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[64,185,186,187,28],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How taxation makes government less effective - ZAP - Zero Aggression Project<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/zeroaggressionproject.org\/how-to-think\/taxation-is-theft\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How taxation makes government less effective - ZAP - Zero Aggression Project\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Maybe your friends think there&#039;s no alternative to taxation. 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