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L. Neil Smith's
THE LIBERTARIAN ENTERPRISE
Number 514, April 12, 2009

"Deny the consent of silence to tyranny"

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Stupidity Tax
by A.X. Perez
perez180ehs -+at+- hotmail.com

Attribute to The Libertarian Enterprise

Occasionally all of us have to pay extra taxes as a result of folly or ignorance on our part. Basically we end up paying extra taxes out of stupidity. I propose that the US Government cut out the rigamarole and just put a tax on stupidity, period. Every act of stupidity should be taxed and people who do stupid things on an above average rate should have to pay an extra added stupid tax. This would have all sorts of interesting results.

First of, the Federal debt and deficit would be wiped out in about a month, and the Feds would be able to pay off the State debts in another month or two. Secondly, we could get rid of all other taxes. There is no shortage of stupid people and even the smartest of us do the occasional stupid thing.

A tax on stupidity would be a "sin tax," one intended to discourage behavior the society finds objectionable. Perhaps it would discourage some of the more obvious acts of stupidity people commit and thus make life easier for the rest of us.

Tyrants are predators. Taxes are how they prey on us. In nature predation weeds the unfit from the breeding pool, thus genetically improving the prey species over time. By requiring stupid people to pay high enough taxes to interfere with their reproductive success the tyrants could finally do something useful. It is time for our tyrants to begin to carry out their natural Darwinian function by taxing the people who are dragging down society rather than those who build it up, taxing the "uncompromisingly inferior" rather than those who strive for excellence.

Of course there would be an inconvenience. the phrase "Here's your sign," would have to be replaced by "Here's your bill," but this would be a small sacrifice for the genetic culling achieved.

Now, I am not seriously proposing a new tax (so don't write about me supporting statism.) I am simply pointing out that taxation is parasitism, a highly specialized form of predation.

In nature, predation weeds out the unfit. It seems to me that most (if not all) forms of taxation tend to punish the fit. Probably because the fit have the money the unfit don't. this makes tyrants not only predators, but unnatural predators to boot.


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