Gregory Yates: thoughts, theses and collected theologies.

Government makes us ‘less good’ as individuals.

This is not as ambiguous as it sounds.

There is an old adage that a good deed undertaken with forced hand is not a good deed at all; in layman’s terms: if somebody makes you do a good thing, you can’t be credited as a good person for doing it. If a Big Issue seller drew a pistol and forced members of the public to donate to their cause, the victims could hardly be called generous or liberal. It was not their choice.

Government taxation represents exactly this. Let us assume that, perhaps, every twenty pence in every pound I am taxed goes to the poorer families of my state - and that this taxation, like all taxation, carries a penalty for evasion. When I pay my taxes, and thus provide for these low-income households, I am attempting to avoid reprecussions such as a fine, community service or jailtime. Though the money is going to good ends, I am effectively being intimidated into paying it; ergo, the act is not undertaken out of compassion but out of fear of reprehension.

This is not a good act! This is government blackmail.

Now, given a chance, the public may well have decided to give this sum of money to a just cause. They may equally not have done so; this is immaterial, as the point of the matter lies in their free choice to do so. I may not have enough money to pay both taxes and give to whichever interest my moral compass indicates - so I am left with merely the forced deed. The best I can do is give my taxes willingly and happily, convincing myself that I really did it for the greater good and not because I feared the penalties for neglect.

An anarchist state insists upon no form of taxation, thus allowing for the individual to redistribute their wealth and resources as they deem appropriate, and thus allowing others to respect their free choice, and thus their goodness - rather than have it marred by state control.