this post was submitted on 08 Jun 2025
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Explain Like I'm Five

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You don't agree to pay it. You can't opt out and if you don't pay you get put in jail. How is this not theft?

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[–] temporal_spider@lemm.ee 10 points 3 days ago

Let's turn the question around. You benefit from the many things other people's taxes have provided, even before you were born. You were probably born in a hospital funded by taxes. The hospital staff was educated by public schools and federally subsidized student loans. You drive on public roads, and are (at least in theory,) protected by publicly funded cops, firefighters, and military. (I did say in theory.) You probably get your electricity, water, sewer and trash pickup from a public utility - even though you pay for your usage, you still benefit from the public expenditure to build and maintain that infrastructure.

So the real question is how is not paying taxes not theft? You'd be a freeloader, stealing from the rest of us.