Why Do We Have To Pay Taxes?

There are 196 countries in the world according to the strong sources. In these 196 countries, more than 7 billion people spend their life under the control of their governments. Some of these governments are elected by the publics itself via democratic election system, while some are not such as monarchy and oligarchy regimes. Whatever their governing systems are, the most common attribute of these countries is that they all have tax collection system! Before analyzing the subject of Taxation, we better have a look at the definition of this term and its historical applications. The legal definition and the economic definition of taxes differ in that economists do not consider many transfers to governments to be taxes. For example, some transfers to the public sector are comparable to prices. Examples include tuition at public universities and fees for utilities provided by local governments. Governments also obtain resources by creating money (e.g., printing bills and minting coins), through voluntary gifts (e.g., contributions to public universities and museums), by imposing penalties (e.g., traffic fines), by borrowing, and by confiscating wealth. From the view of economists, a tax is a non-penal, yet compulsory transfer of resources from the private to the public sector levied on a basis of predetermined criteria and without reference to specific benefit received. In modern taxation systems, taxes are levied in money; but, in-kind and corve taxation are characteristic of traditional or pre-capitalist states and their functional equivalents. The method of taxation and the government expenditure of taxes raised is often highly debated in politics and economics. Tax collection is performed by a government agency such as the Canada Revenue Agency, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in the United States, or Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in the United Kingdom. When taxes are not fully paid, civil penalties (such as fines or forfeiture) or criminal penalties (such as incarceration) may be imposed on the non-paying entity or individual. The first known system of taxation was in Ancient Egypt around 30002800 BC in the first dynasty of the Old Kingdom. The earliest and most widespread form of taxation was the corve and tithe. The corve was forced labour provided to the state by peasants too poor to pay other forms of taxation (labour in ancient Egyptian is a synonym for taxes).[24] Records from the time document that the pharaoh would conduct a biennial tour of the kingdom, collecting tithes from the people. Other records are granary receipts on limestone flakes and papyrus. Early taxation is also described in the Bible. In Genesis (chapter 47, verse 24 the New International Version), it states "But when the crop comes in, give a fifth of it to Pharaoh. The other four-fifths you may keep as seed for the fields and as food for yourselves and your households and your children". Joseph was telling the people of

Egypt how to divide their crop, providing a portion to the Pharaoh. A share (20%) of the crop was the tax. In the Persian Empire, a regulated and sustainable tax system was introduced by Darius I the Great in 500 BC; the Persian system of taxation was tailored to each Satrapy (the area ruled by a Satrap or provincial governor). At differing times, there were between 20 and 30 Satrapies in the Empire and each was assessed according to its supposed productivity. It was the responsibility of the Satrap to collect the due amount and to send it to the emperor, after deducting his expenses (the expenses and the power of deciding precisely how and from whom to raise the money in the province, offer maximum opportunity for rich pickings). The quantities demanded from the various provinces gave a vivid picture of their economic potential. For instance, Babylon was assessed for the highest amount and for a startling mixture of commodities; 1,000 silver talents and four months supply of food for the army. India, a province fabled for its gold, was to supply gold dust equal in value to the very large amount of 4,680 silver talents. Egypt was known for the wealth of its crops; it was to be the granary of the Persian Empire (and, later, of the Roman Empire) and was required to provide 120,000 measures of grain in addition to 700 talents of silver. This tax was exclusively levied on Satrapies based on their lands, productive capacity and tribute levels. The Rosetta Stone, a tax concession issued by Ptolemy V in 196 BC and written in three languages "led to the most famous decipherment in historythe cracking of hieroglyphics". As we can see, tax system is not an item from the modern world. It reaches to ancient times according to historical sources. And it is very important for the continuity of the states. There are a lot of positive advantages of the tax system. However some parties states that tax system is not necessary at all. In order to understand the difference between these two different views, first we should better have a look at the statements regarding to this subject. One of the most common used taxation method is Ability to Pay. The more money we earn, the more taxes we pay. And the opposite is also true. If we earn a small income, we pay less taxes. According to this tax system everyone pays taxes in one form or anothermostly income and sales taxes. But why do we pay these taxes? There are many services offered to citizens that could not be managed effectively under any other system. The federal government uses your tax dollars to support Social Security, health care, national defense and social services such as food stamps and housing. Services provided by taxes in South Carolina are public schools, safe highways, health care, prisons and social services for low-income citizens. The city or county where you live provides water and garbage service, police and fire protection and also contributes to public schools. We can all admit that these services are necessary. But why must they be paid for with taxes? Why shouldn't

we just pay individually for what we use? The answer is simple: Because no one could afford it. Each person would have to pay the full fee for the service regardless of their ability to pay. When we look at the counter views for this subject, we see different approaches. Briefly these counter view claims tax as theft. And the defenders of this approach can be even found within the politicians as well. The identification of taxation as theft is a viewpoint found in a number of political philosophies. Under this view, government transgresses property rights by enforcing compulsory tax collection. Anarcho-capitalists and Objectivists see taxation as government violation of the non-aggression principle. Some libertarians see taxes as a violation of NAP while others argue that because of the free-rider problem in case security is a public good, enough funds would not be obtainable by voluntary means to protect individuals from aggression of a greater severity. They therefore accept taxation, and consequently a breach of NAP with regard to any free-riders, as long as no more is levied than is necessary to optimise protection of individuals against aggression. Geolibertarians argue a land value tax is compatible with NAP. Anarcho-capitalists argue that the protection of individuals against aggression is a service like any other and that it can be supplied by the free market much more effectively and efficiently than by a government monopoly. Their approach, based on proportionality in justice and damage compensation, argues that full restitution is compatible with both retributivism and a utilitarian degree of deterrence in order to uphold NAP in society. They extend their argument to all public goods and services that require taxation, like security offered by dikes. Murray Rothbard argued in The Ethics of Liberty that taxation is theft and that tax resistance is therefore legitimate: "Just as no one is morally required to answer a robber truthfully when he asks if there are any valuables in ones house, so no one can be morally required to answer truthfully similar questions asked by the State, e.g., when filling out income tax returns. Supporters of taxation usually assert that no such violation of rights is taking place. Supporters argue that "theft" must be considered in the context of the system of government in place. One justification of taxation is contained in social contracts. The general view is that taxation is required to fund basic provisions that enhance economic growth (i.e. law and order, transport/telecom/energy infrastructure) though some economists claim taxation is forced wealth distribution very similar to theft and just as crime it has a major negative impact on a countrys GDP. American Republicans such as Grover Norquist have in recent history been strongly anti-tax, with Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner directly

expressing the "taxation is theft" idea by saying "how much more money do we want to steal from the American people to fund more government". As a conclusion, laws are forcing us to pay taxes for the continuation of public services. Even though there are logical approaches to this issue claiming that paying tax is not required, these ideas do not seem realizable at the moment. It is well known that these taxes are collected for the favor of the public. But it is also known that some corrupted governments do use these amounts for their profits as well. Maybe before asking the question of Why de we have to pay taxes? we should ask the question of How can we ensure the proper usage of taxes for real purposes?