Quote from: cr1776 on January 02, 2014, 07:35:14 PM

Quote from: Hawker on January 02, 2014, 07:26:15 PM

Quote from: jinni on January 02, 2014, 02:27:16 PM

Quote from: mistress_magpie on January 02, 2014, 03:04:37 AM

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_income

basic income is a well studied economic proposal - if government wishes to start this they could certainly pay people in btc.

Certainly they can, but as long as they keep collecting the money through taxes it is an immoral use of force.

Saying that collecting taxes is immoral doesn't really advance your cause much. Most people think its immoral to allow the poor to starve and thus collecting taxes is the lesser of two evils. What you need to do is either make a moral case for allowing the poor to starve or stop complaining about taxation being immoral.

I didn't see jinni advocating "allowing the poor to starve". I think he believes, as do many, that charities are much more capable than government in providing for the poor since they are much more local, efficient, and accountable.

Forced servitude to provide for someone else is immoral no matter what the person's need is. Voluntarily saying you will help is a completely different matter. Most people are more than willing to help others and around here do so. It isn't charity at the point of a gun, and it isn't charity or moral if you are giving away the products of someone else's life. In short, someone's "need" doesn't give them a right to force you to work to provide something for them.

Paying taxes is not forced servitude. The state creates money and the state creates the distribution system for money. If the state says "Instead of you getting 100% of the profit from selling timber you get 70%" that is not forced servitude - you always have the option of having no money at all and thus avoiding all taxes.