Most Americans know the Boston Tea Party as the first act of rebellion that gained momentum and resulted in the American Revolution. What was it about? Taxation without representation. This was the impetus for the revolution. Many know the phrase today, yet few can tell you what it means.
Taxation without representation refers to those paying the taxes having no say in its allocation. The flip side of this is representation without taxation. Those who don’t pay taxes determine who gets taxed, how much, and where the money is spent.
It seemed simple logic that those who pay the taxes should have representation on how that money was used. Those who didn’t contribute to the tax pool had no right to say how tax dollars should be spent. At the time, that appeared to be self-evident.
After the revolution, the United States was established with a system whereby only property owners had the right to vote. We didn’t have income tax when the nation was founded. Property owners paid property taxes and were the only contributors to the tax base.
There were no laws prohibiting people from becoming property owners. You had the right to become a property owner, but that right came with the responsibility of being a taxpayer. There have been many changes over the years considering who votes. Today, all citizens over 18 have the right to vote.
When people can vote regardless of their contribution to the tax pool, it creates a situation whereby non-contributors can vote to redistribute wealth so long as they outnumber contributors (representation without taxation on one side and taxation without representation on the other). Being this is the situation that resulted in the Revolutionary War, it is likely to lead to civil war once established again.
Those who stand to be taxed have every right to have a say in taxation policies, but non-contributing beneficiaries of tax dollars do not. Every person has a right to vote, but nobody has a right to other people’s money.
There is a simple amendment that can prevent our nation from falling into socialism and spare us another civil war:
Any person who chooses to be the recipient or beneficiary of tax dollars shall temporarily relinquish their right to vote for three years beginning in the year receiving tax dollars.
This amendment would prevent the conflict of interest by voters who receive tax dollars. Those who do not partake in the production have no right to control the distribution. If your income comes from people’s taxes and not your wealth creation, then you are not a net contributor to the tax pool. Only those contributing to the tax pool should decide how their money is spent. Anything else violates the property rights of the producers. Anything else is representation without taxation. Currently, we have public employees, people who receive subsidies on housing and other programs, and those who receive the “earned income credit.” All of these people stand to benefit from further taxation of those in the private sector. Once too many are taking money from the producers, they continue to take more until they bankrupt the country. Our national debt keeps increasing because the number of people receiving tax dollars costs more than we bring in from taxes, and our government supports borrowing and printing (stealing people’s savings) to foot the bill. When beneficiaries become the directors, you end up with a ruling class of parasites that eventually kill the host.