Remarkl
Remarkl
Sep 3, 2018 · 2 min read

Ask a stupid question, get tons of stupid answers.

For every reductive “taxation is theft” on the right, there is an equally dumb “property is theft” on the left. These are simply ways of saying that something is always wrong. But taxes aren’t always wrong, or immoral, or unethical, or good, or just.

Taxes are the dues we pay for belonging to the club called a polity. In the US, we are free to leave the club. Many Americans do leave their state and local clubs because they don’t like paying the dues. Are Federal taxes “theft” but state taxes “not”? And, of course, one can renounce one’s US citizenship and join any other club with less onerous dues (and better benefits of membership) that is accepting new members. So, where’s the theft?

Of course private property — not “property” — is a social construct. You possess what you can defend; you own what the club agrees you own. Such legally respected powers as you may have with respect to any issue, including the use of a particular tangible or intangible “thing,” are determined by the rules of the club to which you belong. And remember, this same club that you fear will take your property is mostly using others’ resources to help protect that very property from thieves and arsonists and even your own stupidity .So it’s probably a good idea that you involve yourself as much as possible in the club’s governance, including making sure that people who share your interests have power with respect to governance.

Considering morality with respect to property while rejecting as off-topic the general question of whether morality itself is a social construct strikes me as disingenuous. Unfortunately, it’s not turtles all the way down. We don’t get to beg the big questions just because we don’t have the stomach for them. And we aren’t even touching the question of deontic vs. aretaic ethics. How can we ask if something is “moral” without agreeing on these most basic premises?

For now, I would say only that we observe a set of constraints on short-term self-service so that we can together take advantage of life’s plus-sum opportunities. As those opportunities change, mostly by reason of technology, the rules change. The Golden Rule remains in effect, but only de dicto, i.e., its substantive demands change with our view of outcomes in the world as it exists from time to time.

In short, the simplistic, reductive title question here deserves only one response: Sometimes. Next.

    Remarkl

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    Remarkl