Perpetuating Fallacies

This article includes a telling example of how most of our elected officials see the money collected as taxes: Philadelphia threatens jail for tax deadbeats. In the article, the Mayor of Philadelphia states “We want our damn money, you owe it, we want it, and I plan to collect it.” Other examples of this mentality can be found when bureaucrats make statements like this (from here):

In the near term, Steny Hoyer, House majority leader, raised the possibility that Congress will only temporarily extend middle-class tax cuts set to expire at the end of the year. He pointedly suggested that making them permanent would be too costly.

Not only does Mr. Hoyer ignore the fact that the Bush tax cuts dramatically increased tax revenue, he also implies that there will be a cost to the government of allowing people to continue to retain the money they have earned. Statements such as these prove that our elected officials believe that government actually generates money independent of the taxes it forcefully acquires and that this money then belongs to them. Neither of these beliefs is true. However, as long as we continue to allow these people to either labor under or perpetuate these fallacies, we will be destined to suffer under their oppressive and destructive control.