Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of
Homelessness
by Pirate Joe,
17
January 2009
Hard Times. They’re here, and likely to get a bit worse before
they get any better. All the ingredients are in place, making an
old Woody Guthrie 78 sound as if it was recorded yesterday. The words
come across with a startling, almost eerie, reality:
“But believe
it or not,
you
won’t find it so hot,
if you
ain’t got the do re me.”
Indeed.
Yet this commentary is not about the Great Depression, (the
first,(1873) the second (1929) or the inchoate third (today)). Rather
it is about one of the most fundamentally un-American institutions ever
conjured up by any government.
A bit of background first. No less a document than the
Declaration of Independence states that we (as living beings) “are
created equal....endowed....with certain unalienable (meaning,
literally, not to be made foreign to us) Rights” (sic)....(and) that among (in other words, not limited
to) these are “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” Further, that in order to secure those rights,
“governments are instituted among men”
Oh, so that’s
why we have governments.
This was one of liberalism’s finest hours, advancing the almost
unheard of concept that governments are here to serve us, not the other way around.
Liberal thought has brought us out of a number of Draconian laws,
and prevented many other harsh measures from ever seeing the light of
day. Pour example: Remember
debtor’s prisons? These institutions criminalised debt indirectly
(ostensibly, their purpose was to insure a debtor’s appearance in
court) by incarcerating a debtor until his debt was paid. The debtor
was responsible for paying for his own heat, clothing and food. As you
might expect, many died. It was in 1849 that the last one was closed in
the U.S.A. Talk about cruel and unusual punishment. Another reason that
these prisons were the end of the line for many was the simple fact
that once in jail, you obviously had no way of earning money, and hence
few viable options for paying your debt. Another fine bit of
legislation was the Pennsylvania Bankruptcy Act of 1785, which provided
that a bankrupt person be nailed to
a pillory by the ear. Just to make sure you didn’t somehow
forget this pleasant little experience, they would then cut the ear
off. Old colonial New York was far more humane. A hot branding iron was
used to place a permanent “T” for thief
on your thumb. Gradually, we embarked on a path that decriminalised
poverty.
Many years later, when the IRS came along, the income tax was
graduated, meaning that a person who makes $10,000/year will not pay at
the same rate or amount as someone who makes $100,000/year, who, in
turn, will not pay as much as someone who makes $500,000/year, etc.
Imagine for an instant, that instead of this system, the IRS instead
declared that everyone must
pay a tax of $50,000/yr. Assuming the person who makes $10,000/yr
turned every penny of his/her earnings over to the government, that
person would accrue a debt of $40,000/yr. The $100K individual would
turn over 50% of his/her earnings, and the $500K guy would be paying a
mere 10%. After four years of life in the street, a destitute, homeless
person (who hadn’t earned a cent) would be $200,000. in debt to the
government. Ouch. Obviously, such a hideously oppressive system would
never be enacted, but the point I’m trying to make is that even though
the graduations have been messed with, the basic concept is intact: the
worse off you are, the smaller your obligation becomes, until (below a
certain point), you owe nothing at
all.
Sales taxes are handled to gain a similar effect. Notice the next
time you go to the food store, you don’t pay tax on food. You will pay tax on non-food
items, such as laundry detergent, toilet paper or that can of dog or
cat food. Not, however, on the food you need to survive. Nor on a visit
to the doctor. Nor on any medicine he might prescribe. The idea that
anyone might be put in the position of starving or succumbing to
illness because they didn’t have enough to pay a tax on food,
medical services or medicine is repugnant to a modern, liberal,
progressive society, as indeed it would be to anyone of conscience.
Nor, if you are a homeowner, did you pay sales tax on your house.
Again, since shelter is a basic need, it would seem morally bankrupt to
deprive one of shelter because a tax could not be paid. It is rather
hard to imagine life, liberty or the pursuit of happiness living in the
street when the temperature is hovering at -20 degrees C.
So, answer me this: why do we allow any sort of property tax in
America?
Property taxes are the most regressive, oppressive, hideously
Draconian and autocratically imposed system for punishing hard times,
hard luck, downward mobility or just plain poverty ever devised by man.
Consider this all-to-common scenario: Your business goes bust or
you loose your job and your unemployment runs out. You have little or
no money, but your house is payed in full, so you at least can plant a
garden in the back yard and have a roof over your head, right? WRONG. The insidious evil of property taxes will
make you homeless. The government will, by force, remove you from
your home, and leave you destitute in the street. The home that you
paid for in full will be confiscated. (for failure to pay this
tax) How is this life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? Remember,
the IRS taxes you on income, if you make nothing, or less than the
threshold, you owe nothing.
This is inherently fairer system.
I can see no reason why any American should ever be penalised for
hard luck or poverty by the loss of their home. This just simply should
never be allowed in America. Property taxes should be abolished.
Period.
13
reasons why property taxes are unfair, Draconian, un-democratic and
utterly contrary to the spirt of the Declaration of Independence and
the Constitution:
1.It is
not a graduated tax. (not indexed to ability to pay).
2. It
taxes an unquestionably basic human need: shelter.
3.It can
deprive individuals of the basic right to live off their land.
4. It can
result in government confiscation of fully paid-for property.
5. It’s
methods of assessment are often capricious and arbitrary.
6.It can
result in “taxation without representation” (if for example, you own business property
in a township other than the one in which you live, you cannot vote on
the issues or for the candidates that will decide how to take your money).
7.It is
decidedly unfair to senior citizens and others on fixed incomes.
8.It
oftentimes forces vulnerable seniors from the homes they’ve spent their
lives in.
9.It
places the local tax burdens unfairly on one group of people, property
“owners”.
10. It is
many times used as a weapon by local governments to displace entire
neighbourhoods.
11.It can
deprive individuals of a basic need, shelter, and force them into
life-threatening homelessness.
12.It
would seem to be a violation of the Fifth Amendment: “....nor shall private property be taken
for public use without just compensation”.
13. There
are no deductions allowed, as with the IRS.
This blight upon our land can be eliminated, but, as with most
injustices, it takes o-r-g-a-n-i-s-a-t-i-o-n! If you feel that you
should be required to pay a tax to the government in order to keep what
is rightfully yours, regardless of your ability to pay, fine, do
nothing. If you feel as I do, that it is an abomination for anyone to
be forced to pay ransom on their very own homes, then act. Talk,
organise, broadcast, write, call, e-mail, post and publish. Let’s get a
movement going. Success will mean that no matter how bad this
depression gets, once you’ve paid for your home, noone can ever put you
out of it.
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