Voluntary taxation is a theory that states that
taxation
A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, o ...
should be a
voluntary
Voluntary may refer to:
* Voluntary (music)
* Voluntary or volunteer, person participating via volunteering/volunteerism
* Voluntary muscle contraction
See also
* Voluntary action
* Voluntariness, in law and philosophy
* Voluntaryism, reje ...
act. Under the theory, people should have the option to pay taxes instead of being forced to pay taxes by their
government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...
. Under this theory, the people would control how much they pay and where they spend it. The theory is a part of
Objectivist politics and many
libertarian ideologies. Proponents of some studies assert that individuals will give to government, paying voluntary taxes to support specific functions.
In one study, subjects were each given $20 to be anonymously allocated between themselves and a charitable organization their discretion (repeated for 12 different organizations, $240 total/subject), voluntary donations for each organization averaged 22% to government organizations and 27% to private nonprofits, and were influenced by their cause, level, and perceptions of effectiveness and efficiency (on average, 76% of the endowment was kept by the subjects).
State lotteries are an example of a voluntary taxation system.
History
The
American federal income taxation system is sometimes called a "voluntary" taxation system. Marjorie E. Kornhauser writes, "Most people never pay their taxes voluntarily, in the ordinary sense of the word. Rather, they are generally anti-tax, in that they usually would prefer to keep any income they receive than pay it to the government in taxes. Voluntary, in the context of taxation, simply means that people do not have to be compelled to pay their taxes through actual enforcement actions by the state." The
"income taxes are voluntary" argument has not prevented U.S. residents who did not file tax returns or pay taxes from being prosecuted and convicted for tax offenses.
Lysander Spooner
Lysander Spooner (January 19, 1808May 14, 1887) was an American individualist anarchist, abolitionist, entrepreneur, essayist, legal theorist, pamphletist, political philosopher, Unitarian and writer.
Spooner was a strong advocate of the labor ...
stated, "It is true that the ''theory'' of our Constitution is, that all taxes are paid voluntarily; that our government is a mutual insurance company, voluntarily entered into by the people with each other; that each man makes a free and purely voluntary contract with all others who are parties to the Constitution, to pay so much money for so much protection, the same as he does with any other insurance company; and that he is just as free not to be protected, and not to pay tax, as he is to pay a tax, and be protected. But this theory of our government is wholly different from the practical fact. The fact is that the government, like a highwayman, says to a man: “''Your money, or your life''.” And many, if not most, taxes are paid under the compulsion of that threat. The government does not, indeed, waylay a man in a lonely place, spring upon him from the roadside, and, holding a pistol to his head, proceed to rifle his pockets. But the robbery is none the less a robbery on that account; and it is far more dastardly and shameful. "
In ''
Second Treatise of Government'' (1690),
John Locke took the position that all rights come from the people, and that the people must give their consent to be governed by elected representatives.
L.K. Samuels extended John Locke's assertion under the “Rulers’ Paradox” to illustrate why the collection of taxation could be seen as voluntary. Samuels contends that the Lockean “consent of the governed” only applies to rights that people possess, which are then loanable to a governing body, under the social contract. In cases of torture, kidnapping, wiretapping, theft, and assassination and other such transgressions, Samuels asks: “Where and how does a representative government acquire authority to perform such coercive acts, acts disallowed for individual citizens?”
Under this interpretation of John Locke, Samuels maintains that taxation would have to be voluntary since people cannot loan rights to others that they themselves do not already have.
Locke argued in a quote attributed to him that “the people cannot delegate to government the power to do anything which would be unlawful for them to do themselves.
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was previously the natio ...
lent weight to a voluntary society, writing that "No man has a natural right to commit aggression on the equal rights of another, and this is all from which the laws ought to restrain him.” During his administration, President Jefferson abolished the whiskey excise and all other federal internal taxation on U.S. citizens, which was one of his campaign promises. The U.S. Federal government had no direct internal taxation for nearly 80 years.
Like many of the
Founding Fathers,
George Washington
George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...
was an admirer of John Locke. He was vocal about the concept of consent of the governed, writing: “The Parliament of Great Britain hath no more Right to put their hands into my Pocket without my consent, than I have to put my hands into yours, for money.
Example
Here is an example of how a voluntary taxation system could function.
A state would distribute tax forms that could be filled out by recipients. The forms would describe options which the recipients could designate preferences as to how the recipient would like his or her money spent. For example, there could be a section for military spending, or separate sections for defense in general and specific conflicts in particular. There would also be sections to be for elected officials (who would still be necessary to carry out the wishes of the people) and also sections for charities.
The form would be divided into more and more sections so that people could specify their decisions. The entire form would be under the category of general. Then there could be a section for education and then even further for elementary school education. People could choose which sections they wanted and contribute to those sections. For example, they could contribute different amounts to each section of education or to the section of education in general, allowing their elected officials to decide the best way to allocate the money.
In popular culture
* When asked by
Mario Lopez
Mario Lopez (born October 10, 1973) is an American actor and television host. He has appeared on several television series, in films, and on Broadway. He is known for his portrayal of A.C. Slater on '' Saved by the Bell'', '' Saved by the Bell ...
what her first
executive order
In the United States, an executive order is a directive by the president of the United States that manages operations of the federal government. The legal or constitutional basis for executive orders has multiple sources. Article Two of t ...
as
president
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
would be,
Ellen DeGeneres
Ellen Lee DeGeneres ( ; born January 26, 1958) is an American comedian, television host, actress, writer, and producer. She starred in the sitcom ''Ellen'' from 1994 to 1998, which earned her a Primetime Emmy Award for " The Puppy Episode". Sh ...
advocated a mix of voluntary taxation and tax choice, stating "you should get to choose where your money goes instead of giving it and just letting them decide, I think you should decide."
Support
The arguments for this theory are as follows:
* It allows greater
freedom.
* It performs both the function of collecting
money
Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money are as ...
for the
government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...
and allowing the
population
Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...
to decide where money should be spent. It is similar to allowing everyone to vote on
government spending except that it is in a different format.
* It allows
government officials
An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority, (either their own or that of their su ...
to easily keep track of the wants of their
voters
Voting is a method by which a group, such as a meeting or an electorate, can engage for the purpose of making a collective decision or expressing an opinion usually following discussions, debates or election campaigns. Democracies elect holder ...
and the
nation
A nation is a community of people formed on the basis of a combination of shared features such as language, history, ethnicity, culture and/or society. A nation is thus the collective Identity (social science), identity of a group of people unde ...
as a whole.
* It allows people to
"vote" directly with their money. For example, they can decide if everyone should have
health care by contributing to that section.
* It saves money that would otherwise be spent on
tax collection
A revenue service, revenue agency or taxation authority is a government agency responsible for the intake of government revenue, including taxes and sometimes non-tax revenue. Depending on the jurisdiction, revenue services may be charged with ...
by the government.
Sources
* Payne, James L
"The end of taxation?" ''
National Affairs
''National Affairs'' is a quarterly magazine in the United States about political affairs that was first published in September 2009. Its founding editor, Yuval Levin, and authors are typically considered to be conservative and right-wing. The m ...
''
*
Rothbard, Murray N. ''
Man, Economy, and State'' (with "
Power and Market"),
Ludwig von Mises Institute
Ludwig von Mises Institute for Austrian Economics, or Mises Institute, is a libertarian nonprofit think tank headquartered in Auburn, Alabama, United States. It is named after the Austrian School economist Ludwig von Mises (1881–1973).
It ...
, 2004. Textbook with
section that describes most of the theory of Voluntary Taxation
See also
References
{{Reflist
External links
*
ttp://archive.lewrockwell.com/block/block28.html An article on Voluntary Taxation
Theory of taxation