This marquee appeared down in Texas, I understand, put up by a brave businessman or woman.

We here at TPOL have no idea whether the gal or guy is a true lover of liberty and believer in free markets, or just a disgruntled “conservative” statist who is grumping. But whatever they be, they are echoing a message that we here, starting with Lady Susan (Mama Liberty), have been explaining for a very long time.

Today, we note that more and more people are spreading more and more truth like this. And we applaud it.

Because the truth is pretty nasty when it comes to “taxpayer’s money.”

Simply put (and very simplified):

1. Governments produce virtually NOTHING OF VALUE. At least not to most of us.
2. Governments DO produce a lot of things of dubious value (to most of us) and in an incredibly wasteful and inefficient manner.
3. Governments support themselves and “produce” things by stealing money from people and their businesses. These are called TAXES.
4. Taxes are not illegal – because it is government that writes laws that says that taxes are legal.
5. But taxes are immoral, and because governments cannot decide what is moral or not, they cannot change that.
6. There are lots of different kinds of taxes. Some, like the income tax, are tantamount to slavery. Others are just forms of armed robbery: although the various agencies that collect taxes and fees do not normally show off their guns, they have them and the threat of using them. Ditto for State, county, and local tax collectors.
7. While sometimes governments seem to have “their own” money, as from the sale of services or equipment or land, this money is a form of indirect tax:
   • The service government provides is only done by the government because there is a law that doesn’t let anyone else.
   • The land and equipment and other things which governments may from time to time sell were themselves either stolen or purchased using stolen money.
8. Since it is stolen money, governments have little incentive to be wise in their use of the money. And of course, the government (officials and employees) get their cut off the top.
9. Indeed, many (if not virtually all) services provided by governments are not done by the government itself. Rather government contracts out (usually to privately-owned and -operated business) to do the actual work. Or the various government agencies have the work done by the bottom rung of employees: which they consider nothing but “human resources” just like water and land and minerals and such are “resources” to be used and even abused and consumed in use.
10. Because of this, the goods and services that come from governments are not actually the result (except in rare cases) of the productive use of time (labor) and materials. And therefore horribly expensive due to the markup of the costs – markup used to pay for all the officials and government employees and their enforcers and the luxuries they enjoy.
11. Therefore, all this government spending and taxing is supported by MORE parasites: private businesses and organizations who get to enjoy the money and other things that government can get for them.

Does this not all make sense? Yet people pretend otherwise.

Worse, we constantly hear preachers and teachers and (of course) activists and politicians and the like, telling us that taxes are essential. They tell us that taxes are “the price we pay for civilization” and even blaspheme by telling us that God wants us to pay taxes to our rulers.

At the same time, government tries to position itself as a “good guy” and tell us how essential government parasites are to civilization and society. And of course, most of us buy it. Otherwise, we’d be out on the streets and roads en masse and reducing the excess population these States have. The excess population of politicians, government officials, government bureaucrats, and all their ilk. And their cooperating parasites in companies and non-government organizations.

Just a few thoughts on a nice, Spring day in 2023.