Is taxation theft?

[RockBell]

Tax is not a theft, the intention for the collection of tax is solely on on giving back to the society on terms of development and infrastructures, if the government are indeed being honest in the way of development to the community and are ready to work and give all it demands for them to help the people, every citizen will be happy and interested in paying thwur tax since they are conscious of what the government are capable of doing in return for them.

Taxation was initiated by government to initiate projects and give back to the society what they have taking from them and government needs money for running projects in the society and it was actually a good idea from the government to be able to help the society because with the government things can not be organized and government is their to maintain orderliness in the society. But if you look at the initiative is good. And in some society you see projects that have been done starting from borehole and other little projects. And community clinics. But gradually they don't longer follow the order and they will be waiting for support from other bodies and they still continue to collect money from people. And the government will make sure that people pay their tax and what angers me is that the government is always spending money and nothing serious is still going on because their is a lot of community's that are still lacking and they need serious support, and they are still taxing them i just hope things get better.

[STT]

Without government, any country would turn chaotic, or perhaps more chaotic

Tax and some level of governance would continue anyway, total anarchy is unlikely.   What immediately could happen is a more local system level, in Switzerland I think they have a city state type system.  They still pay taxes but its locally done, taxation, division and spending.

   Its probably no coincidence Switzerland doesnt spend a great deal on giant armies, the terrain has some involvement I think.   I read of one case where the head of a global company got paid so much, his taxes allowed the rest of his community/town to not require any contribution for a year or so.   He must have been popular at that point.

[lixer]

I think honestly taxation is not theft, I believe any functioning country needs to get their money out somewhere and part of the revenue needs to come from a relatively important percentage of the work of the people.
I don't have problems with taxes, as long as they are reasonable and are used to keep important things functioning, like hospitals and schools, not for the corrupt people of the government to steal all of it.
In my country, for example, the system of taxation is very primitive thus vital infrastruture is left to be lost to the time and the lack of funding.

If the state and the people can find an equilibrium in which nobody feels robbed, then it is fine.

I agree with your argument, even though the use of taxes is not optimal and not transparent, taxation is not theft because all the rules have been regulated in valid laws, but tax management is not in accordance with what is expected to build infrastructure and services to the community, many tax officials are proven to have committed corruption and several officials using state funds for personal needs. So the government should emphasize the death penalty to imprison tax corruptors because they have enslaved people to work and cut people's income to pay taxes.

Specially in many developing countries we are having too many things which are not working as they needed to be done with peoples are paying taxes, but they are having no incentives which they deserve, so this is surely theft in these countries. As mentioned we are having huge personal incentives for the tax department peoples which are also not justifying things like these so they needed to have stick rules for these things but no one caring about common peoples because many politicians are also involved.

If we have some transparency then surely we can achieve many good things for many countries which are not possible right now with life and development could be also have improved, but we need things which are not happening for decades.

[Yatsan]

I think honestly taxation is not theft, I believe any functioning country needs to get their money out somewhere and part of the revenue needs to come from a relatively important percentage of the work of the people.
I don't have problems with taxes, as long as they are reasonable and are used to keep important things functioning, like hospitals and schools, not for the corrupt people of the government to steal all of it.
In my country, for example, the system of taxation is very primitive thus vital infrastruture is left to be lost to the time and the lack of funding.

If the state and the people can find an equilibrium in which nobody feels robbed, then it is fine.

I agree with your argument, even though the use of taxes is not optimal and not transparent, taxation is not theft because all the rules have been regulated in valid laws, but tax management is not in accordance with what is expected to build infrastructure and services to the community, many tax officials are proven to have committed corruption and several officials using state funds for personal needs. So the government should emphasize the death penalty to imprison tax corruptors because they have enslaved people to work and cut people's income to pay taxes.

Specially in many developing countries we are having too many things which are not working as they needed to be done with peoples are paying taxes, but they are having no incentives which they deserve, so this is surely theft in these countries. As mentioned we are having huge personal incentives for the tax department peoples which are also not justifying things like these so they needed to have stick rules for these things but no one caring about common peoples because many politicians are also involved.

If we have some transparency then surely we can achieve many good things for many countries which are not possible right now with life and development could be also have improved, but we need things which are not happening for decades.

Taxation as a process of wealth distribution is not a form of theft however, misuse of the money is, and that's not only falling under theft but corruption, meaning widely implemented. Not a new thing indeed especially with third world countries. Unfortunately, these countries are high higher taxes than with developed ones but the implementation or seggregation of money isn't usally done properly because personal interest from corrupt leaders do exist.

Transparency isn't something they would honestly do I guess because corruption is a collaborative motive from corrupt memebers of the government. Quite sad to think that this is becoming a norm with many administrations over decades.

[Juse14]

If the taxes applied are considered irrational and excessive, in my opinion it constitutes theft, more precisely legal theft. However, even though sometimes we feel burdened by these taxes, we still cannot refuse not to pay taxes. Because taxes are coercive.

Taxes do have an important role in increasing the income of a region or country, which will later be used for the construction of public facilities. However, it is very unfortunate that if the tax results are applied to every sector, the benefits of the tax itself are still not felt by society at large. So it is quite natural that some of them feel unwilling to pay taxes. Not to mention the addition of corruption cases that often occur in the government realm, which can make someone even more lazy and reluctant to pay taxes. But once again, we cannot refuse to pay taxes, because otherwise we might be subject to fines or be entangled by the applicable regulations.

[Elhindinho]

If the taxes applied are considered irrational and excessive, in my opinion it constitutes theft, more precisely legal theft. However, even though sometimes we feel burdened by these taxes, we still cannot refuse not to pay taxes. Because taxes are coercive.

Taxes do have an important role in increasing the income of a region or country, which will later be used for the construction of public facilities. However, it is very unfortunate that if the tax results are applied to every sector, the benefits of the tax itself are still not felt by society at large. So it is quite natural that some of them feel unwilling to pay taxes. Not to mention the addition of corruption cases that often occur in the government realm, which can make someone even more lazy and reluctant to pay taxes. But once again, we cannot refuse to pay taxes, because otherwise we might be subject to fines or be entangled by the applicable regulations.

It is common that there are always discussions and tensions between the necessity of taxes and the frustration with how they are sometimes used. Taxes would be felt like legalized theft if those are prevailed with Irrational or excessive obligations. Taxes are supposed to fund public services that benefit the populace of the country. There are common concern about the benefits of taxes when those aren't felt or when corruption diverts funds. Commonly people desire to avoid burdens, and taxes can certainly feel like a burden, this is why resentment is fueled when there are potential corruptions. It's impossible to refuse taxes entirely, but people can advocate for tax reform to increase transparency in government spending.

[franky1]

oh good old blackhat misinforming as usual

when citizens vote they choose who manages the country whom determines how laws and policy is made
people AGREE and consent to be managed which comes with costs, people agree that some situations of life are not assured and so they agree that some representatives of the masses can organise such funds to the distribute to the services/functions that are needed which individuals cant do for themselves.

so tax is not theft when its part of the law that had been agreed to by the representatives the majority consented to

sometimes changes in tax laws or expenditure policy can negative affect the masses. but thats where people petition their government for change that benefits the masses, or vote a new governing body into power who pledge to change laws for the benefit of the masses

i personally think that alot of the tax which treasuries manage get wasted and we should petition governments to economise and organise funds better, but that does not mean taxation is illegal when there are many many many laws actually legalised it over centuries. so its not theft, just irresponsibly managed/spent

From the definition, a tax is a legal fee paid to the government by firms and individuals to fund activities for public goods, like the construction of roads. We are made to believe it's for our good, which may be true, although economic hardship is on the rise but we move regardless.

So, tax may be debated as theft when hard-working citizens have to pay ridiculous amounts for things that don't make sense, or when the tax fee is increased within a short period. However, since it's a legal fixed fee, one shouldn't bother too much about it being theft or not, but rather focus on making enough money not to notice the tax rate.

for me taxation is not illegal as its the whole purpose of government. we voted to create government to service us as a collective and individually based on those in need, which its services come at costs..
much like a gym or a management company. we become members of a gym or hire a management company to run our day to day services so we have to pay that bill/membership

however yes when the government abuse their authority when they spend funds on things that dont benefit the users and then charge those users even more due to the wastage.. then its the government thats not fit for purpose and needs to reform. where by it can reform its expenditure plans and thus not require to raise taxes, and instead decrease the tax expectations

its not so much the tax, its more so the treasury budget/plans which is the problem.. fix the spending plan, to relax the taxation (utopian dream as we know governments wont do that)