In matters of taxation, Rome’s emperor Tiberius believed in handling things with a light touch. He was quoted as saying “Boni pastoris est tondere pecus, non deglubere.” Or roughly translated, “A good shepherd shears his sheep, he does not flay them.” It was meant as a warning to his regional commanders to treat Roman provincial subjects fairly in matters of state revenue, and to avoid excessive taxation.
This especially true in the US. Our legislators are bought and paid for by special interests who write the tax laws to benefit themselves. The rich get richer at the expense of the less wealthy, while the poor sell their votes to whichever corrupt politicians promises them the most from the public fisc. More and more of what used to be the middle class are working from paycheck to paycheck, no significant savings and all their solid assets purchased on time while paying them off becomes an ever more remote possibility. What can we do if we don't quit paying taxes en masse? Where is the political will to change this? Rome fell, slowly at first then not so slowly. Is western civilization on the cusp of another, worse Dark Age?
Great piece and with ALL the small non conformists groups fighting against tyranny where or what will happen. And if they take away or dispose of our ROTTEN Leaders who listen to Schwab the perv we'll all be better off but can puppets have a will of their own?
The truth is that the large global “American” corporations are the true nexus of American empire’s power. Think of the current war in Ukraine. It’s fought with billions of dollars worth of weaponry built by the America’s military industrial complex. Sanctions are carried out by western banks. Even trading oil requires the almighty petrodollar. Normal folks like us are just dust on the chessboard. The top 0.1% who have the power also own and control these corporations who in turn control the state. What’s the point of taxing yourself? Our current president who shakes hands with ghosts is proof aplenty that our elected officials do not matter one iota.
Now I say all that but I’m not saying we need a revolution. The truth is that after we humans invented agriculture, it’s always been this pyramidal power structure and that will never change unless we go back to our nomadic ways or we solve for unlimited energy. Look around the world, it’s the same everywhere.
The tax paid in Australia is something that most citizens in the EU can only dream off. In the Netherlands in the 1970s income tax rates ranged from 40% to 85%. On top of that there were social levies of another 5 - 10%. Next 18% tax on goods and services, tax on interest, text on property, tax on inheritance, and you get the picture. Small business owners could only survive by double bookkeeping. The favorite subject during parties was how to dodge taxes. Sweden had income taxe rates over 100% ! Swedisch government complained that ABBA was shifting their HQ to Switzerland to avoid crippling taxes. In The Netherlands big companies get secret dealt from the IRD and pay no tax for many years.
The result is that now 1.3 million people live in poverty, go to foodbanks and cannot heat their homes anymore. We now see the lower middle class affected as well as one out of three people cannot pay their bills anymore. And it is getting worse. Due to the ever-expanding public sector taxes must go up again.
Another result of the crippling taxes was that millions of people with capital and talents left the country. In 1993 my family left for New Zealand. Friends in The Netherlands are now in fear of ever rising taxes and costs of living with inflation of 16%.
This especially true in the US. Our legislators are bought and paid for by special interests who write the tax laws to benefit themselves. The rich get richer at the expense of the less wealthy, while the poor sell their votes to whichever corrupt politicians promises them the most from the public fisc. More and more of what used to be the middle class are working from paycheck to paycheck, no significant savings and all their solid assets purchased on time while paying them off becomes an ever more remote possibility. What can we do if we don't quit paying taxes en masse? Where is the political will to change this? Rome fell, slowly at first then not so slowly. Is western civilization on the cusp of another, worse Dark Age?
Great piece and with ALL the small non conformists groups fighting against tyranny where or what will happen. And if they take away or dispose of our ROTTEN Leaders who listen to Schwab the perv we'll all be better off but can puppets have a will of their own?
The truth is that the large global “American” corporations are the true nexus of American empire’s power. Think of the current war in Ukraine. It’s fought with billions of dollars worth of weaponry built by the America’s military industrial complex. Sanctions are carried out by western banks. Even trading oil requires the almighty petrodollar. Normal folks like us are just dust on the chessboard. The top 0.1% who have the power also own and control these corporations who in turn control the state. What’s the point of taxing yourself? Our current president who shakes hands with ghosts is proof aplenty that our elected officials do not matter one iota.
Now I say all that but I’m not saying we need a revolution. The truth is that after we humans invented agriculture, it’s always been this pyramidal power structure and that will never change unless we go back to our nomadic ways or we solve for unlimited energy. Look around the world, it’s the same everywhere.
The tax paid in Australia is something that most citizens in the EU can only dream off. In the Netherlands in the 1970s income tax rates ranged from 40% to 85%. On top of that there were social levies of another 5 - 10%. Next 18% tax on goods and services, tax on interest, text on property, tax on inheritance, and you get the picture. Small business owners could only survive by double bookkeeping. The favorite subject during parties was how to dodge taxes. Sweden had income taxe rates over 100% ! Swedisch government complained that ABBA was shifting their HQ to Switzerland to avoid crippling taxes. In The Netherlands big companies get secret dealt from the IRD and pay no tax for many years.
The result is that now 1.3 million people live in poverty, go to foodbanks and cannot heat their homes anymore. We now see the lower middle class affected as well as one out of three people cannot pay their bills anymore. And it is getting worse. Due to the ever-expanding public sector taxes must go up again.
Another result of the crippling taxes was that millions of people with capital and talents left the country. In 1993 my family left for New Zealand. Friends in The Netherlands are now in fear of ever rising taxes and costs of living with inflation of 16%.
Thank you for the time and effort you put into these articles!
Do you have resources for moving to another safe country out of the USA?
Love Love this wide awake land https://anamihalceamdphd.substack.com/p/wakaminenga-maori-government-is-magic