More taxing matters...

With all of the debate about taxation, about “coercion”, about “collectivism I thought that this little commentary in the Sunday Star Times was more than interesting and certainly pertinent…


Now Gareth Morgan I have mentioned already, Rob Oram is a business commentator (read journo) and Brian Easton is an academic, politics unknown…

Read all of it, there is some interesting insight.

My friend Robert might like this little exchange…

Q: Some say tax is government theft. Why should we pay any at all?
Oram: It's not theft. You can't have a civilised country without paying tax to fund services we cannot fund as individuals. It is entirely up to each society to decide what services it is willing to pay for. So the Scandinavians like lots, the Russians very little.
Morgan: It's only theft if you don't value any public goods and services. This is not a credible view to hold in a society that devotes 30% of its GDP to core government spending.
Easton: The statement belongs to the same rhetoric as "property is theft", so why should we recognise private property? We pay taxes in order to attain community goals which cannot be delivered by the untaxed market.

Robert, how much of the US GDP comes from core government spending (i.e. welfare, defence, law and order, education and health)? You might like to consider both Federal and State expenditure to get a fair comparison…