#5220188, By ruttyboy How much tax does the government get from each tax type?

ruttyboy 10 Sep 2009 16:13:10 7,950 posts
Seen 4 years ago
Registered 18 years ago

otto wrote:
Actually, you could argue that taxation was born out of the desire of the weak to protect themselves from the strong.

The income tax was introduced to fund the Napoleonic Wars, i.e. to resist French imperialism.

Throughout history, taxes have been imposed by rulers on the ruled who pay up in exchange for the rule of law and security. It's the social contract, isn't it? Or we could all just live off whatever we can glean from the land and hope that the Vikings don't come over the hill, rape our goats and drag us off to work as their slaves.

You're right, you could argue that, and you could argue the opposite just as easily. Tribute/tax/subscription, whatever you call it there will always be people who benefit and those who don't. I'm only saying that the system is set up to keep everyone paying tax as that is now the powerbase of our leaders, rather than literal strength as it used to be (a long time ago).