While watching the news this morning I saw a young couple being interviewed. The young man had on a hat that stated taxation is theft. I disagree. It is not theft.
As a youth I was fortunate enough to live in a foreign country in South America for a summer as an exchange student. Here I saw the results of lower taxation. Police existed but in low numbers. As I walked along the sidewalks of the city I saw people come up behind people and steal jewelry right off of them and run. I saw watches taken from arms and earrings ripped out of ears. No one came to help the victims. There was no one to do so. While there I also experienced seeing water rushing from the mountains into the lower city streets. The rush of water was so strong that it would actually pull our car around as if we were on a water ride at an amusement park with no boundary walls. The infrastructure that we have here – roads, police, firemen etc. are paid for by our taxes. You pay taxes as to put in your fair share to help build and maintain these general welfare things.
As an adult I traveled to Haiti a few times. Here education is not free to the children of the nation. Most cannot afford to send their children to school. A high rate of illiteracy exists. The government there had been looking into free education but in a nation wherein the incomes are so low taxation could not be much.
As one who has been blessed to see the other side of the coin I feel blessed to live in the USA. I ask that anyone who thinks taxation is theft visit a nation where it is at a low level or does not exist at all. You might understand why we have them.