231: Government Is A Thief

Of course a modern civilized society needs some government - to defend against foreign invaders, to pick up garbage (at least in urban areas; in rural areas we recycle everything on our own), to guarantee safety of food and drug supplies, to provide a safety net for those who are unable (not unwilling) to care for themselves.  The money necessary to pay for these essential services is a tiny fraction of the $4.5 trillion the federal government spent in fiscal year 2019.  That $4.5 trillion does not include state, county, township, and municipal spending.

The vast majority of taxation is stolen by government from its citizenry, to wit: 

1.  A citizen decides to provide his labor to an employer.  The government imposes a penalty (income tax) because the citizen engages in productive behavior.
2.  A citizen decides too invest his savings in companies that provide thousands of jobs for other citizens, and pay all those citizens good wages and benefits.  In exchange for investing, the company pays the citizen a dividend, a reward for having faith in the company.  The government steals part of the dividend through a capital gains tax.
3.  A citizen decides to drive to the grocery store to buy food.  The government imposes several penalties on the citizen for this activity - gasoline tax, sales tax, myriad excise taxes on countless items.
4.  A citizen decides to build a home to raise a family.  The government steals part of the value of the citizens home every year through real estate tax.  This is especially pernicious, because the government, not the market, decides how much the citizen's property is worth, and then the government steals whatever percentage of the value of the property that it wants.

The list could go on for hundreds of examples.  The point is, government does not exist to serve its citizens, it's the other way round.  Citizens exist to pay for the constantly growing bureaucratic, parasitic organism referred to as "government."

Public servants, my ass.