Corruption Abounds!

Column by Paul Hein.

Exclusive to STR

All taxation is theft, but the most egregious of these thefts must surely be the property tax. Other taxes/thefts can be avoided or minimized, but if you own a house or other tangible real estate, you will be taxed forever, and after you are gone, your heirs will continue to pay tribute to the property tax collector. A number of years ago I asked the local collector how my property could be evaluated in terms of “dollars,” when no value is attached to the “dollar,” and the term itself is undefined. He avoided the question by informing me of the rules by which I could appear before some commission and argue for a lower tax rate. My question remains unanswered.

A year ago I asked the county director of revenue, whose office collects the tax, how I could be subject to his demands absent my consent. His response was not pertinent and he has subsequently ignored further letters.

A few weeks ago I received an unsigned, undated letter from St. Louis County, informing me that my (!!) property had increased in value by about $16,000. I presume that was a warning that the property tax bill, when it arrived, would be for more than last year, although the process is a joke. The rulers can lower the tax rate (hooray!!) but still collect a larger amount by increasing a home’s valuation. Or vice versa: they can decrease a home’s value—which they have done in the past--but collect a larger tax by boosting the rate of taxation. The only thing that remains clear and unequivocal is that they want your money and will get it, one way or another. In response to the letter from the county, I sent the “County Executive” the following letter:

Dear Mister County Executive:

I have received from your office a letter, anonymous and bearing no return address, informing me of the remarkable fact that my home, having aged and deteriorated accordingly, has become more valuable!

The letter is designated “projected tax liability notice,” meaning, I am sure, that you plan to send me a bill, again, on behalf of the nearly 60 organizations or programs which I am expected to support because you say so.

My question to you is this: By what authority do you demand money from me, year after year, as a condition to my continuing to live in “my” house? You will quote some statute, but that is simply saying that your organization, the county, has a right to my property because it says so, and has written it down (a law). Can you produce evidence that your self-serving opinion--“laws”-- apply to me?

Surely if a small group of people, by writing down their wishes--i.e., laws--can compel everyone else to finance their projects, the idea of a free people becomes a joke. What happened to private property if it only remains “private” unless tribute is paid you, in amounts of your determination, at times of your determination, by procedures of your determination? What happened to freedom of speech if individuals are compelled to finance organizations whose views they do not share, or perhaps oppose? What happened to the “consent of the governed,” which Mr. Jefferson assures us is the hallmark of a legitimate government?

Over the years I’ve paid you more for the privilege (!!) of living in my own home than I paid for the home, with no end in sight. I’m sick and tired of doing this, and want an explanation of just how I became subject to you. Aren’t you supposed to be MY servant? How did I become yours?

Very truly yours,

Of course, as a mere mortal, I did not merit a reply from His Omnipotence himself, but rather, from a flunky called “Chief of Policy,” who told me that “upon review of the letter, I have determined that your concerns would be best addressed by St. Louis County Assessor. Thus, I am forwarding your letter to his office. Please feel free to contact his office should you require further assistance. Thank you for taking the time to share your views and concerns.”

I have as yet to hear from the Assessor, but can predict that he will explain that, as Assessor, he merely determines value, but does not levy taxes or determine who is liable for them. Maybe he will refer me to someone else, who will provide a similar non-answer.

Corruption, corruption! The gang of thieves calling themselves St. Louis County can only do one thing well: take other people’s money, by relying upon their victims’ apathy or ignorance, or by threat, actual force, or, if absolutely necessary, deadly violence. They can attempt to justify their actions by citing statutes, but they write those statutes, making their demands just that: mere demands. To date, no government official, federal, state, or local, can tell me how I have become subject to him, or how his written desires, i.e., the “law,” can be applied to me, since I have never given my consent to be regulated or limited by any government.

I am not so naïve as to expect justice from these people. Rather, I would like to educate my fellow victims to the true nature of government, and their relationship—if any--to it. If enough people—it need not be a majority--recognized the government as an illegitimate gang of thieves, it could not survive. That will be the day!

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Paul Hein's picture
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Paul's picture

I too hate the property tax and consider it the worst tax. Most of the proceeds are used in the evil government indoctrination centers, even if you homeschool your child, and the rest for those lazy louts in the fire departments - even if you install a sprinkler system in your home (I have done so) which is far better than any fire department. The property tax is even environmentally destructive, as it forces people to put into production marginal lands, better left fallow, in order to pay the tax.

Again, there are no rights in this picture. There are only a favored group of parasites that we have to put up with, at least until the revolution comes.

Samarami's picture
    "...If enough people—it need not be a majority--recognized the government as an illegitimate gang of thieves, it could not survive..."

Correct. It requires "...enough people..." to come to understand.

"Understand what?" you ask. That "...the government..." is a mindless, useless abstraction. That there are people. Some are producers, and some are predators. Predators over history have developed incredible and all-pervasive tactics to make themselves appear "necessary" to producers. Rothbard, in "Anatomy of the State", uses the example of mobs who hijacked caravans in times past. All of a sudden the mobs are now the "protectors". They are "necessary". If you love your safety and your freedom, thank a mobster.

They are the ones who have given rise to "families of nations", "countries", "counties" et al.

And there are no "good" (or "better") forms of theft (taxation). The "income" form of theft is probably more egregious than "property" forms of theft. At least with "property" you have something that is standing still and can be counted and valued. To the predators, "income" cannot be defined. Oxygen is "income" when you think about it. So they define "income" as "adjusted gross income" to come up with the scheme that serves to swindle you.

You own nothing as long as you believe in government. Not "legally", you don't. You are granted the privilege of possessing it for a time. Whining, wailing, gnashing of teeth on the part of the proletariat is the bizarre, weird factor in the science of rulership. It's part of what keeps it all alive. It forms the basis of the "problem". Thank g-d we're here to "solve" your "problem".

The enormity of the truth is incredible. Sam

Paul's picture

"You own nothing as long as you believe in government."

Whether you believe or not, you still own nothing - except that which you are willing to kill in order to keep. However, at least the unbelievers are not mentally enslaved as the believers are. That's worth something.

As to better or worse forms of taxation, there definitely are differences, basically boiling down to the ability to avoid the tax. While there are untaxed incomes to be made from the black market, there is no escaping property tax unless one IS government. If you don't pay it, over and over again, year after year, you are kicked off your property.

I never did find Rothbard's idea where the state came from to be very plausible. I think the state originated in the wealthy people.

Samarami's picture

As to my comment about taxation: there is no "good" (or "better") taxation. Sort of like the choice between execution by guillotine or by firing squad.

"Income" taxation, however, was blatant control and nothing more. "Revenue" was merely a bonus. Title 26 (the white man's "internal revenue code"), once a paperback size publication, now requires a library to contain. Nobody knows how many "amendments" or divisions or subdivisions are in the thing. Nobody can submit a confession of voluntary taxation ("file-a-return") honestly. Because no matter how many "experts" and/or "professionals" (a huge industry in itself) to whom you take the same set of figures, you will always get different "tax due" lines. The exemptions and credits, deductions, brackets, deferrals are so numerous that nobody can calculate them all for any one set of figures.

And, as stated earlier, there is no "legal" definition for "income" -- only "adjusted gross income" or "taxable income". A slice of Mom's apple pie could definitely be looked upon as "taxable income" by some standards (presuming the white man has standards, which he doesn't).

So I won't argue against the idea that a "property" (whatever that's supposed to mean) tax is "better" or "worse" than an "income" tax. Taxation is robbery, plain and simple.

Paul's picture

I definitely prefer the firing squad. :-)

Samarami's picture

Of course everybody can have an opinion as to how "states" came into being -- like "evolution" (how "life" came to be) or "big bang" (how "the universe" came to be"). I personally believe (and you've read my posts on this) that "nations" and "countries" were the brainchilds of genie such as the likes of Attila the Hun and Genghis Khan, who developed the first empires. They came to see the waste of, once they breached the walls of peaceful cities, raping all the women, slaughtering all the men, women and children, and leaving their carcasses to rot on the desert floor. They saw that empires could come into being by "allowing" the captured to not only live, but to form governments that appeared to be "of-the-people". And to "contribute" large segments of their production to the king.

Those are the emperors who came to understand capture bonding -- "Stockholm Syndrome".

Which is represented today by each and every "vote" or voluntary submission ("filing" ha ha) of confessions ("tax returns" ho ho ho).

The enormity of the truth is incredible.

As to "ownership" you are absolutely correct. Naked I came, naked I shall return. Sam

Glock27's picture

Lovely Sam. Not much more than that can I say, but the sand paper of the world.