taxation
Suppose a man steals your car. We can all agree this is immoral. Suppose ten men steal your car, but give you a bicycle in return. Most would object to this arrangement as well. Now suppose an organization of thousands forcibly takes your money under threat of force or imprisonment but provides a nominal set of services in return. How big does such a gang have to be before it’s okay for your wealth to be expropriated regardless of your consent? Despite the obvious similarity to a mafia protection racket, this is the situation that obtains under state taxation and this, the famous ‘How many men?’ thought experiment, frames an ethical argument against taxation by challenging the listener to differentiate between institutionalized coercion and outright theft. Even those who happily pay their taxes and buy the myth of a ‘social contract’ must recognize that this arrangement, historically, often spirals dangerously out of control as the state – and the powerful interests that attach themselves to it – has a powerful incentive to grow larger, increase its power to exproprate wealth, and eat out the substance of the citizenry until corruption overwhelms civil society. In the current economic climate, the hailstorm of proposed taxes on everything from energy to travel to goods and services could hardly provide a better example of this trend. Even as some resist the headwinds, bravely railing against the national imposition of the HST, millions slip further into poverty while international agencies seek new means to expropriate wealth on a global scale and sell us ‘austerity’ to bail out billionaires.
Smoking Guns — Suggested Reading
HST will cost families, McGuinty finally admits
Up to 50,000 protest Charest’s tax hikes
IMF chief calls for quota-based global warming slush fund
Leaked G20 Documents Shed Light on Global Carbon Tax
GPS Tracked Road Tolls Back On Agenda for Toronto Metrolinx
‘Smart meters’ set to boost prices, track your power consumption by time of day in Toronto
Revenue Canada destroys man’s life, refuses to pay for million-dollar mistake
Archive (Most recent headlines first)
2010
HST soon takes effect in Ontario, B.C. | Obama calls for bank tax as next step in Wall Street reform | Anti-HST petition could change B.C.’s political landscape | Canada commits $400M to climate change fund | 13 new prisons: New crime bill will cost feds additional $5-billion | Canada Revenue Employees Caught Spying, Changing Records | The White House’s Climate Strategy: Pass Bill Now, Slip Carbon Taxes in Later | EU to push for global bank tax at G20 | Ontario’s First Nations to be HST exempt | B.C. anti-HST petition meets legal benchmark | Liberals admit HST will cost families up to $480 a year | G20 media centre with fake lake to cost $1.9M | US Federal Trade Commission considers taxing online speech | G20 to delay tough bank tax regulations | Underground economy emerges in Ontario in response to HST | Report suggests road tolls to fight climate change | B.C. anti-HST petition hits target weeks ahead of schedule | Toronto Police to take up to $100-million of G20 security funds | UK Coalition ministers and bankers to oppose pan-European bailout fund | Protesters worked up over HST levy on fitness | Congress blocks indiscriminate IMF aid for Europe | Anti-HST petition nears goal in B.C. | HST rage puts B.C. Liberals in a spot | Privacy commissioner outlines concerns surrounding Ontario’s Smart Grid plan | Harmonized tax could cost Ontarians $5.9B a year | Canada, EU at loggerheads over bank tax | HST will cost families, McGuinty finally admits | New austerity measures essential, says Greek PM | HST begins taxing Ontario on Saturday | Auditor General produces new warning on E Health record plan | Flaherty wins delay in decision on global bank tax at interim G20 meeting | Unconstitutional? Ontario government slips another new energy tax in under the radar | Bankers Prepare To Assault Americans With VAT, Transaction Taxes | First Nations protest against HST | Montreal flirting with road tolls | GTA road tolls are inevitable, professor says | Global bank tax urged by IMF | Canadian taxes fastest-growing expense: Report | BC Govt, Anti-HST Campaigners Dispute Legality of Pro-HST Leaflet | Flaherty stands firm against new bank tax | Toronto mayor David Miller uses subway PA to push for funding | Electricity rates surge in Ontario | Up to 50,000 protest Charest’s tax hikes | Paul Volcker: VAT, Carbon taxes may be necessary | Nova Scotia budget hikes HST rate | Newfoundland residents protest national park fees on ‘traditional’ land | HST fight makes allies of B.C. political foes | Ottawa busker bylaw enforced | Thousands protest Quebec budget | HST legislation introduced in B.C. | Nicolas Sarkozy under fire after carbon tax plan shelved | More stimulus spending coming | MP Charlie Angus Introducing Private Copying Levy Bill, Flexible Fair Dealing Motion | Former premier Bill Vander Zalm rallies against the HST in BC | Ontario tax collectors get $45K severance, keep jobs in HST federalization deal | MEPs vote overwhelmingly for an EU Tobin Tax | Green energy bubbles threaten to pop at both Federal and Municipal levels | IMF chief calls for quota-based global warming slush fund | Frustrated Icelanders vent rage by voting no in referendum | EU considers general carbon tax | UK: Spy chips hidden in 2.5 million dustbins, councils plan 60% tax hike | Greece unveils radical austerity package | Tories hand out $75 billion worth of ’spending restraint’ | Obama unveils newest health-care plan | Gordon Brown’s plan for global bank tax ‘a step closer’ | EU leaders reach secret Greek bailout deal | HST ad campaign debuts in Ontario | The US budget: Barack Obama’s $3.8 trillion red ink blueprint | Global Bank Insurance Levy Wins Support over Transaction Tax at Davos | Cellphone fines up to $500 for Ont. drivers start Monday | IMF warns against retreat from stimulus spending | Terence Corcoran: Ontario puts $10B in the wind | EU urged to adopt bank supertax | Flaherty’s economic plan blasted as leading to taxation or cuts | Obama ponders bank transaction levy to recoup bailout shortfalls | Running a red light? It’ll cost you big time now
2009
Ont. deficit could linger for years: McGuinty | French Carbon Tax Law Struck Down | Copenhagen Accord Establishes Global Government Framework | Final Copenhagen Text Includes Global Transaction Tax | Lower tax haul helps widen Ottawa deficit, $56.2B shortfall expected | EU calls for tax on bank transactions | HST bill passes, 13% tax starts July 1 | Poll: HST equals Hated Sales Tax | Taibbi: Obama’s sellout to Wall Street creates ‘permanent bailout’ | Tories, Liberals, Bloc approve HST for Ontario and B.C. | Anti-HST protest at Ontario legislature spills onto Toronto streets | More HST debate fallout after Ontario Legislature sit-in | Bombshell UN Climate Documents Reveal Planned “End Run” Around National Sovereignty | Liberals to support HST bill | Tory HST protest halts Ontario question period | UK: Brown takes campaign for Tobin tax to Commonwealth | Federal HST tax bill to be introduced, plays politics with law | Ontario Tories walk out to protest lack of hearings on HST | Contentious HST bill introduced in Ontario | Leaked G20 Documents Shed Light on Global Carbon Tax | Food under $4 to be HST-free, Ontario says | GPS Tracked Road Tolls Back On Agenda for Toronto Metrolinx | Report suggests road tolls, parking and fuel taxes for GTA | Everyone in Britain could be given a personal ‘carbon allowance’ | Czech President: Copenhagen to be ‘Largest tax increase in world history’ | McGuinty says HST doubters exist in Liberal ranks | Copenhagen’s Plans for a New ‘Government’ are Scary | UK: Secret Plan for Euro Income Tax | Copenhagen, carbon, and the global corporate agenda | Electronic health is the boondoggle of boondoggles | IMF chief wants global bank tax | Canadian taxpayers on hook for any H1N1 vaccine damages | Ontario deficit $2.5B worse than expected due to drop in corporate tax | Ont. gives green energy price guarantee | If passed, HST locked in through 2012 | New HST tax is fair, McGuinty says | Thousands rally against coming HST tax in BC | Sarkozy launches carbon tax to help ’save the human race’ | Quebec’s photo radar starts ticketing | Flaherty offers taxpayer-funded bribe to adopt HST tax, holdout provinces demur | BC, like Ontario, moves to harmonize taxes | Vancouver kicks off quest for ways to fund transportation system | Cost Of US Bailout Hits A Whopping $24 Trillion Dollars | Ontario to subsidize electric cars as auto-sector boost | G8 Summit: Rich nations to pay green tab | G8 leaders see no early end to stimulus | Climate Cops To Fine “Wasteful” Homeowners & Businesses | Goldman Sachs: The Great American Bubble Machine | US cities may have to be bulldozed in order to survive | Ontario Liberals pressing to hide new ‘harmonized’ tax in prices | Ontario unveils cap-and-trade legislation | Economic stabilization may rely on carbon economy, economist says | ‘Smart meters’ set to boost prices, track your power consumption by time of day in Toronto | GM deal likely involves bigger sacrifices: McGuinty | With interest rates at zero, Fed looks at going negative | Revenue Canada destroys man’s life, refuses to pay for million-dollar mistake | NRTEE Carbon Market Panel is ‘Round Table on Socialist Planning’ | Climate panel presses for federal cap-and-trade system | Which Banks Will Rule? | Carbon tax resurfaces in Liberal policy proposal | Canada Revenue Agency employees arrested in corruption probe | Obama, Gore, tied to Chicago carbon exchange | Ontario to merge GST, PST in ‘harmonized’ tax hike | Ottawa considering aid for private broadcasters | Barclays bank gags Guardian newspaper over tax avoidance leaks | UK Central Bank begins using ‘new’ money | NY Times: Mileage Tax Would ‘Track Where Motorists Have Been’ | Stimulus needed now, Bank of Canada says | Terence Corcoran: Ontario’s green energy plan sneaks in feed-in taxes | Obama outlines ‘hard choices’ budget | Cost of Afghan mission jumps to $11.3-billion | GM wants twice as much taxpayer’s money | Behemoth budget bill to be rammed through parliament unread | Obama signs stimulus bill | Obama takes heat for third cabinet appointee that hasn’t paid taxes | Tories seek extra $331-million for Afghan mission | Fed infrastructure money requires provincial spending | All maxed out? Budget measures would improve credit access | UK Slips New Garbage Bin Taxes into Climate Bill | UK: ‘Spy-in-sky’ trials get the go-ahead despite Government promise to scrap road-pricing plan
2008
Oregon Governor Wants GPS-Tracked Vehicle Mileage Tax | GTA Transit plan needs taxation, ‘governance’ powers | Is road-tolls fix running out of gas? | Ontario raises minimum price for beer | Toronto council approves plastic bag charge, bottle ban | Maybe we should look at Zimbabwe before trying to print our way out of a money crisis | Deficits ‘essential,’ Harper says | Road tolls called ‘inevitable’ | Now the consumer crunch: falling credit limits, rising interest rates | Federal government stages another retreat on road tolls | Federal Road Toll Meeting Sponsorship Kept Quiet Until After Election | Toronto Mayor David Miller hails new taxes on water, trash | New credit cards may shift unauthorized-transaction liabilities to the holder | The Bush gang’s parting gift: a final, frantic looting of public wealth | Is an Internet tax coming? | Metrolinx considering road tolls after all | Bailout is “petty cash”, Inflation is the Federal Reserve’s real crime | Toronto Mayor delays garbage tax grab for twelve months | Garbage bin fee hike possible before new RFID bins even hit the kerb | Next Federal Reserve bank bailout round could cost taxpayers 1$ Trillion Dollars | Central banks continue inflating global economy | Central Banks Move to Transfer Wealth from Taxpayers to Banks | For Toronto, road tolls, fees ‘on the menu’ | B.C. carbon tax kicks in on Canada Day | Road tolls, a bitter pill that works | Microchip bin tax scheme to go ahead despite failures | Feds Stealing from UI fund, Layton says | Time has come to put ‘price on waste and pollution’: Dion | Toronto Residents Furious Over RFID Garbage Bins | Pay-As-You-Drive Car Insurance | Is it time for toll roads? | Metrolinx Proposes Satellite Vehicle Tracking for Road Tolls
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