People of England, whatever happened to you? Debates on taxation are tedious at the best of times, but It sickens me that we should even be having debates on issues such as this and this. After all, when looked at in any reasonable state of mind, such forms of taxation seem tyrranical and absurd. Inheritance tax, for example, is simply immoral. Although an argument could be made that the effectiveness of government could improve if a small tax is placed on the purchase of goods, once that tax has been paid it is immoral to tax the same goods again - especially if it means obstructing a person's attempt to gain their rightful inheritance. No further argument can be made. There is no sane rebuttal to this point. Indeed, for much the same reason, road charges cannot be stomached. I have already paid for my use of the roads through road tax. I already pay for my 'emissions' through exorbitant petrol duties. If anything, these taxes should be reduced - they should not be expanded into further areas which reduce our rights through the introduction of bad customs.
What really sickens me, however, is not the nature of the proposed taxes themselves, but the nature of the opposition to them. We should not be politely asking these smug civil servants if they will consider not introducing such taxes, we should be telling them that they will not be, and that if they do the taxes will not be collected and that their very lives may be at risk. This is the way it should be and, indeed, is the way it has been before. The modern concept of taxation is a recent innovation, mostly linked with the Napoleonic wars. Taxation was far more infrequent before that, and, though some taxes were relatively successfull, many often went unpaid. Indeed to see the power of taxation we need to look no further than the example of the poll tax, which has thus far played an important role in instigating two incidents of civil disorder in England. It would appear that the politicians have forgotten the power of taxation. It is the duty of all of us to remind them. When the rebels stormed the Tower of London in 1381, one of their first victims was the King's Chancellor. This is something Gordon Brown should not be allowed to forget.
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