When I was much younger, I would have agreed with you. Before I go further, I should mention that I checked your feed and see that there’s quite a few issues where you and I agree. Tax policy, however, doesn’t seem to be one of them.

Let the reality check begin.

Michael, do you know what taxes are? They’re not an unlawful burden, but life in any nation is *not free*. Taxes are the price of admission to life in any particular nation. That price of admission is going to be higher in some nations, and lower in others.

In terms of personal rights and freedoms, modernity, safety, security, and access, what are the most advanced nations on the planet? The first-world democracies (western Europe, Australia, South Korea, New Zealand, Japan, Canada, USA, etc.). Right? Right.

And what do ALL 1W democracies have in common?

They all have “big government”, high effective taxes, and strong regulation. That, and they are all significantly socialized (including America).

In other words, arguing against high taxes and small-d *democratic* socialism is arguing against success solidly sustained across generations. It turns out small-d democratic socialism — not the faux socialism found in certain dictatorships, but the kind found in all 1W democracies — is a very good thing after all.

Now if you want low, low taxes, and you want to keep as much of your income as is humanly possible, it’s easy — just move to a third-world democracy. I’ve got a home in one such place (in the Philippines) and it’s ridiculously easy to live there without paying much at all in taxes (I normally pay only the Value-Added Tax (VAT) there), especially given that the (chronically-underfunded) government is unable to reliably enforce tax collection. I mean, sure, the government’s able to act like a tyranny when it really wants, but being able to collect taxes to ensure a properly-funded government takes a whole different level of government involvement in daily life. What’s more, the big corporations there are even more powerful in government than they are here.

As a direct result, as a nation, they can’t even begin to afford the kind of high-quality government-funded infrastructure that we take for granted, from roads to schools to food/drug regulation…you name it. They *could* afford better…but only if they could have the kind of per-capita tax revenue we do. But they don’t.

So…do you want to live in a 3W democracy so you don’t have to pay high taxes? Or do you want to live in a 1W democracy? Because if it’s the latter, you *will* have to pay the price of admission — the high taxes.

And one more thing — remember, America did just fine for all the years that we had 70%-90% top marginal tax rates (all income above a certain level) on the rich. And how did the rich avoid paying so much? By reinvesting their income in their companies, thus giving their employees better pay and benefits, among other things.

It’s so easy to say “IT’S MY MONEY!!!!”…but ya still gotta pay the price of admission to life in America. And the more expensive your lifestyle is, the higher that price of admission is. And that’s how it should be.