Quote from: shawshankinmate37927 on January 25, 2014, 06:09:23 PM

Quote from: hilariousandco on January 25, 2014, 01:14:48 PM

Quote from: tspacepilot on January 25, 2014, 01:15:49 AM

Quote from: bitlancr on January 24, 2014, 01:10:16 PM

Quote from: hilariousandco on January 24, 2014, 11:58:58 AM

...it's not stealing if you willingly give up something.

For the umpteenth time, I do not willingly pay tax. I pay tax because I don't want to:

a) Go to prison;
b) Leave my friends and family;
c) Live off the work of others.

You can call those 'choices' if you want - same way as if you were mugged at knifepoint in the street, you might 'choose' to give up your wallet to avoid being stabbed. Doesn't make it voluntary, does it?

I think this post is pretty right. There are situations which, strictly speaking, are voluntary. Yet practically, they are not. A 'choice' between jail/death and a wallet isn't much of a choice IMHO' that's coercion.

If you go to park your car and to be able to legally park there you have to pay for a ticket... have you been forced to pay that money? Has the owner of the parking space robbed you? I'd say that's your choice to park there, or you could find a free place to park.

Of course someone that owns a parking lot should be free to charge whatever he wants for access to his property and anyone who is not willing to pay his asking price should be free to park elsewhere and should not be forced to pay. If the person looking for a place to park chooses to pay, then he has not been robbed. They have both entered an agreement voluntarily.

But that isn't what is being discussed in this thread. A more relevant question would be: Should a thug with a badge be able to go to the owner of the parking lot and put a gun to his head and demand that he hand over half of the parking fee income that he earns?

Why do you keep bringing up the same irrelevant questions I've answered time and time again. If my analogy isn't relevant to what's being discussed in this thread then neither is the you don't chose to get mugged/raped/murdered ones which is what I was referencing here. And there are many choices to park. You can find somewhere for free, you can pay a council space, or a lot. You can choose. You have not been forced to. Does a man with a gun come round and say you have to pay me no matter what even if you don't have a car or want to park anywhere? No. You can also try park for free illegally if you want and try get away with it, but if you get caught you have to pay a fine, but that's your choice and you were aware of the rules so in fact this is a perfect analogy for this situation and far more apt than the mugged/raped/murdered ones you lot keep brining up.

And if a person owns a lot or a space, he has chosen to own that an operate a business under the rules of the system. So he has not been forced to do anything; he chose to play by the rules and pay into this system, and so do you people. Don't want to pay taxes? Fine, don't own a parking space or a lot or go where there are no taxes for this kind of thing. How is anyone being forced to do anything when they willing give it up and agree to play by the rules set out?

And I wish people would stop bringing up this gun to your head thing. Not everybody lives in America.