What if no one paid taxes?

I want to discuss the repercussion of a tax-less society.

- What if everything was private, including police, government, army, national structures, etc..

- What happens if private governments compete against each other, not with wars, but by providing a better life style for the people?

- What if each private government provides different sets of laws for people to choose, and those laws are implemented based on choice, rather than strength, hence if you choose the government, then you choose those laws?

I want to discuss these issues and what such a society would look like.

reply to post by insaan


I want to discuss it as well. Are you talking about globally? Or just within an existing nation? The states of the USA already have their own "governments" and "laws", but they are still tax-based -- everyone pitches in for schools, roads, first responders, etc., and everyone who uses those services gets the same thing out of them.

Your idea sounds great, but I think it could only work in very small groups...perhaps city-sized, no larger, and it would be even better if there was no "currency", but a barter system was in place. Everyone contributes their best skills and in return receives the services of those who have other skills.

I can make you a wardrobe; you can repair the dryrot on my window trim, someone else can paint it, and for them I will cook a week's worth of food....if I slice off a finger doing it, a doctor can sew it back on, and in exchange I will teach his or her children Spanish.

I'd sure like to give it a try ---- why not??

Originally posted by insaan
I want to discuss the repercussion of a tax-less society.

- What if everything was private, including police, government, army, national structures, etc..

- What happens if private governments compete against each other, not with wars, but by providing a better life style for the people?

- What if each private government provides different sets of laws for people to choose, and those laws are implemented based on choice, rather than strength, hence if you choose the government, then you choose those laws?

I want to discuss these issues and what such a society would look like.

It would look like a corporate-ocrisy. Imagine giant office buildings that housed apartments, businesses, stores, pharmacies, hospitals, gardens, livestock areas. An island unto themselves.

Just my humble opinion, though.

reply to post by wildtimes


I think my vision is global, in a world where people don't fight over land, where I draw a line in the sand and fight over it like South and North Sudan, or Palestine and Israel, or Iraq and Iran, or England and Argentina..

Rather there is no line in the sand, just different Governments operating simultaneously in a border-less world.

Now that I think about it, the whole purpose of a Government is to take money and decide where to spend it on. Am I right? So we don't choose government, rather lawmakers and police?

Originally posted by insaan
I want to discuss the repercussion of a tax-less society.

- What if everything was private, including police, government, army, national structures, etc..

- What happens if private governments compete against each other, not with wars, but by providing a better life style for the people?

- What if each private government provides different sets of laws for people to choose, and those laws are implemented based on choice, rather than strength, hence if you choose the government, then you choose those laws?

I want to discuss these issues and what such a society would look like.

This what the problem is now... the corporations are managing the government like it was a cow to be milked and I would never want the corporations or private companies to be in control of government.... here is one example...

you see the big fight about unions? We have unions of public workers and unions with private businesses. First the private companies under their right to secrecy can screw the union workers by manipulating the bottom line; cause the company to bankrupt and then demand wage concessions just as many companies have done in the past....

While unions where workers work for a government or the public can not be screwed by government because of sunshine laws and open meeting requirements...

so after 30 years of private companies union busting and demanding wage concessions many unions are worthless while union employees working for the government have not had the screws put to them because the government can not lie, cheat and steal to cheat workers out of wage increases ....

so today it looks like the government unions are being paid much more than no-government union members when in fact the wage disparity has been because non-government companies can lie, cheat and steal from the bottom line to justify... no raises for union workers... or worse ... being non-union and caught in a place where the companies suck.

The last company I worked for gave a nickel or dime raise a year to their best workers ..... too bad they lost money through inflation!

I wouldnt have to work any more for one thing.

Property tax is the only bill I have to pay but in order to pay it I need to earn an income which snowballs into all sorts of other expenses, fees and taxes and dependencies on utilities.

My dead-end dirt road would remain a dead-end dirt road.

My non-existent children would continue to not receive the schooling I would no longer have to pay for.

The non-existent cops and fire departments would continue to not exist.

Government death threats to "pay up or else" would cease.

All I can see is an upside here. When can we start?

reply to post by beezzer


I'll draw a picture to bring the image to live, then use Photoshop to color it for realism. More detail would be appreciated.

That being said, you could be right, but we can also envision much more organized city structures being built due to privatized competition, for example picture a large human cell, with factories etc.

Originally posted by insaan
reply to post by beezzer

 

I'll draw a picture to bring the image to live, then use Photoshop to color it for realism. More detail would be appreciated.

That being said, you could be right, but we can also envision much more organized city structures being built due to privatized competition, for example picture a large human cell, with factories etc.

(geek moment)
The image that comes to my mind is the large pyramid strructure in Blade Runner. The one movie (I feel) that is highly prophetic.

I never thought of it like that, if nobody paid taxes they couldnt arrest everyone could they

reply to post by insaan


You'd have anarchy?

There has to be taxes in some form.. just as there has to be government in some form. The question usually is not "if" but "how much" .. I think the Gov would get on just fine with a 10% sales tax. Anything it can't afford gets chopped.

reply to post by insaan


1. What does this have to do with no taxes? How do you propose these private corporations are compensated for the services they provide?

2. At the start, I could see this being OK at best. However, before too long, you would end up with an Omni-Consumer Products/Umbrella Corporation/UltraCorp megaconglomerate which would underbid all competitors or absorb them, leading to a single "Walmart" of public services which then can set the prices to whatever they wish. It wouldn't be a pretty thing at all. Further, thanks to the manner in which the Constitution is written, if you remove the elected government representatives from the equation, Constitutional freedoms go out the window. "The government shall not infringe upon..." doesn't equal "The peacekeeping contractor shall not infringe upon..." This is easily observed in the fact that bail bounty hunters are fully protected as law enforcement officers in most states, yet they fall well outside the realm of having to work within the Constitution in regards to search, siezure, and arrest. Same holds true with private investigators, security contractors, and most government contractors in general.