Nobody likes paying taxes.  (I’m fairly certain of this.  I’ve never been told by anyone that they enjoy or look forward to paying taxes.)  Everybody thinks their taxes are too high and/or some other group should be paying higher taxes. (This might not be 100% true, but just go ask your friends if they think their taxes are too high.)

Many people complain about some other portion of society (usually “the rich”) not paying their fair share.  Which brings me to my first moral problem of taxes: what is one’s “fair share”?  Who determines what my “fair share” is and why don’t I get a say in it?

Bottom line, taxes are generally determined by someone other than the ones actually being taxed.  If the whole point is fairness, shouldn’t we require a little more unanimity before levying taxes on people?

Secondly, who is responsible for collecting and enforcing the payment of these taxes?  The government, of course.  And what will the government do to you if you don’t pay your taxes?  Either appoint you to the President’s Cabinet or throw you in jail, but most likely the latter.   Hmm…your money or your life…sounds more like an alley thug than a government that protects the rights of the people.

Thirdly, who determines how tax dollars are spent?  Again, the government.  Politicians think they know better than you do what is good for you.  I’m pretty sure I know better what I need in my unique situation than some guy in Washington that has never met me.  Yet government continually treats us like we are children who don’t know how to take care of ourselves.

Now to move on to some specific taxes, such as the property tax.  You’ve worked really hard to buy a house, and now you have one, all paid for.  But you stop paying your property taxes.  What will the government do?  Take your house away.  So what the government is really saying, is that your house isn’t really yours.  Really it belongs to the government, and they’re just letting you have it for a while.

The same goes for income taxes.  If the government has the authority to take money out of your pay before you even see it, then it isn’t really yours.  You are working for the government, and they are gracious enough to pay you.

There are many more things that can be said about the flaws of taxes, but here I’m sticking to just the moral problems: taxes (at least the way they are currently administered) mean the government owns you, can do what they like with you, and if you don’t like it, too bad.