A strange view on taxes
I am currently reading the book "Under the Banner of Heaven" by John Krakaur. I have read about half of the book which I have found interesting.
The author profiles a number of fundamentalist Mormon's and one transcription jumped out in regards to paying property taxes on his families land:
"His fathers property...owned free and clear. 'By paying property taxes, you are basically telling the government that they're the ones who really own the property, because you give them the right to take it from you if you don't pay your taxes.'"
I do not agree with the approach described above, but it does raise an interesting philosophical question. Do individuals own land or does the government own the land where your dwelling resides? With this line of thought, one could argue tax payments are hidden forms of rent. I suppose this is taking the theory a bit to the extreme, but still an interesting point.
The author profiles a number of fundamentalist Mormon's and one transcription jumped out in regards to paying property taxes on his families land:
"His fathers property...owned free and clear. 'By paying property taxes, you are basically telling the government that they're the ones who really own the property, because you give them the right to take it from you if you don't pay your taxes.'"
I do not agree with the approach described above, but it does raise an interesting philosophical question. Do individuals own land or does the government own the land where your dwelling resides? With this line of thought, one could argue tax payments are hidden forms of rent. I suppose this is taking the theory a bit to the extreme, but still an interesting point.
posted by Bradley Krugh at 7:59 PM
1 Comments:
A STRANGE VIEW ON TAXES?
Not at all. Property taxes were invented in the days when property earned income.
Just a few generations ago, 90% of us worked in agriculture and the most important ingredient in this agrarian society was...land. Land produced income and hence was taxed.
Bookkeeping was novel in the day, but acreage was not. Governments knew little of farmer income and much was in non-cash barter arrangements. What the government did know was the acreage the farmer farmed.
A few more generation back in Europe...all was property of the King from land to loyal subjects. And it said so in the serf's land grant. The property taxes paid by serfs were very much rent.
Serfs in the new economic model called feudalism weren't the agricultural slaves that fueled the Roman Empire several generations before, but with their new found freedom came...property taxes.
Why do we tax something today that doesn't produce a stream of income?
Property taxes are an anachronism.
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