Tariffs and the Proper Funding of the Government

 

Tariffs are a form of tax. Like compulsory and coercive taxation, they are also a form of theft. Also of tyranny. But a free and moral government is always funded by voluntary and contractual fees – not stolen money or forced labor.

Not only are tariffs an illegitimate form of government fees, they’re odd and unnatural ones. They warp the economy, society, and individual. They force everybody to buy less of -- or perhaps not buy at all -- that which they need and want to survive and thrive. Or they force people to overpay for something, and thus they become unnecessarily and illegitimately impoverished.

Sales and real estate taxes are similarly improper and harmful. They’re an act of unexpected, unneeded, and destructive state theft which distorts and damages the economy, society, and individual. Proper government fees only occur where people sign a formal agreement with the state and freely agree to fund it in exchange for the protection of their individual rights. This could also be described as: for the establishment of liberty and justice for all or, more concretely, for the protection of people and property.

These protection fees should probably always be based upon a basic personal fee, plus an income or net-worth fee. The paycheck or total wealth fees are seemingly proper and just because it’s almost always harder for the state to defend the person and property of a rich person than a poor person. The wealthy should pay more, altho everyone should probably pay the same percentage, such as 5% of wages or 1% of total wealth, whichever is higher. But it may also be proper and just for the exceptionally well-to-do to pay a share which slightly slides down as wealth increases, due to it perhaps being somewhat easier for the state to protect property as overall wealth proportionally rises.

One significant problem with tariffs and sales taxes is they’re usually crude approximations of income. One significant problem with real estate and housing taxes is they’re usually crude approximations of total wealth. Other bad government funding ideas are value-added taxes, gift taxes, inheritance taxes, capital gains taxes, and taxation on individual products and services, such as alcohol, tobacco, gambling, luxuries, hotels, resorts, and the like. People end up altering their behavior to avoid the taxes, and this takes them in the wrong direction in life. Consequently these "bad taxes" render persons less high-achieving and happy than they would have been. Both individuals and groups suffer in many senses due to these particular and peculiar fees.

The political and pro-liberty ideal is to have no strange and warping import restrictions, tariffs, sales taxes, real estate taxes, etc. All government fees for services rendered should be voluntary, contractual, and mostly based upon income and wealth, with no unexpected and illegitimate state fees for overseas purchases, local sales, home ownership, etc. If tariffs are mandatory and coercive they’re acts of thievery and tyranny.