Why is it called taxation when government thugs rob you at gunpoint but extortion when someone else does?

[Sixgunsound]

[Avicenna]

Well, we're supposed to get something for our tax money (public goods), but that is increasingly not the case.

[KrakenAttackin]

Because it's "lawful" when the government does it.

[Sixgunsound]

So if a goon with a badge says it's OK for them to extort you and shake you down because they they said so, why isn't it OK for someone else to start printing badges and shaking the original person down on their own say so?

[KrakenAttackin]

You are preaching to the choir, brother.

[RealMarek]

This is longstanding tradition, as old as civilization itself. No government is possible without taxation. Our elites are abusive and concentrate wealth to themselves through a triad of taxation, inflation, and regulation, which is why taxation in our circumstances is very similar to theft.

[Sixgunsound]

It's a vehicle for wealth transfer from the peasants they seek to keep in their place to greedy assholes who think they are better than us. How much does the average taxpayer actually get for their money?

[RealMarek]

Yes, that is the case today. The average American who is not a part of the elite funds a government that seeks to undermine him. However, the current elites cannot be dislodged by some sort of libertarian government. A situation approximating libertarian ideals is only possible among a people who have, through centuries of discipline, developed a strong bent toward self-restraint. Such is not the case in America today. Whatever replaces the current regime will need to wield power unapologetically, including the power of taxation, to restore order.

[Anonymous]

Because government has constitutional authority to tax and spend, but I don’t know of any instance where they did it at gunpoint, not in modern times anyway.

[Sixgunsound]

Who shows up at your door if you don't pay? A goon with a gun?

[Uannoyme]

They're the government. They do what they want. And people make excuses for them.

[Agape93]

Why indeed

[Sixgunsound]

The mob actually ran things better cost-wise and more efficiently than government. Government couldn't compete so it sends its private army to hunt them down and jail the survivors.

[Agape93]

Frankly I'd rather pay them mob than the government. At least the mob leaves you alone when you pay and you leave them alone.

[Sixgunsound]

Right? The mob doesn't start pointless gender or race wars either because the only color they see is Is green and starting waste of time conflicts interferes with profits.

[Agape93]

Exactly.