It's Tax Time Again!!

Editorial
by Paul Geddes
April 1999

In a dictatorship, it's easy to understand what taxes are... They have the guns and you don't. But Canada, they keep telling us is a democracy. Our taxes are taken from us with our "consent". So, here's the big question... Do you give your consent?

The signs are there that more and more Canadians are withdrawing their consent. More are leaving. More are going underground. And more are making their withdrawal of consent angrily known. Examine the many articles in the National Post on the growing "tax rage" in Canada. (The Compas poll reported that 85% of Canadians are "upset" with their level of taxation.) Look at the many letters from readers that the Post published. Many were apoplectic about the loss of control over their life choices.

And as Charles Adams points out in For Good and Evil, when citizens withdraw their consent, revolutions happen. He claims that it has been anger with taxation more than any other factor that has driven great changes in our history.

Is Canada ready for dramatic lessening of the government take? Many are claiming that Klein in Alberta and Harris in Ontario have already started the change. True, both have reduced taxes but not by very much. And government spending, despite all the crocodile tears from the parasite class, is still growing albeit a little less than before. Since there is no such thing as a free lunch, we aren't going to get a substantial lessening of our tax burden until we can persuade more Canadians that important services like health, education and charity must be freed from government's inefficient hands.

Yes, the writing is on the wall, but then remember all the economists who saw the growing immiserization under communism decades before the Berlin Wall fell? How long will we have to wait?

One organization which may speed up the process of getting Canadians prepared for dramatic change is DeTax Canada (see their advertisement on page 9). Be careful about following their advice. Government is strong and can hurt the few who stick their heads out too far. And yet there is something brave and worthwhile about what they are doing.

Essentially, they are calling the government's bluff. The government keeps telling us about our "voluntary compliance" with their income tax laws. DeTax is saying, if taxes are voluntary, then we refuse to pay. Either the government must make visible the fist below its sugary coating or let the DeTaxers get away with it. So far, the DeTaxers seem to be getting away with it. Will the government continue to ignore them if more and more Canadians join this peaceful revolt? And if the government does crack down on peaceful, lawful tax-refusniks, how can they continue to claim legitimacy? Things could get nasty, but then again, sometimes bullies must be stood up to.