Yaron Answers: How Would A Government Gain Revenue Without Taxes?

[AlexanderEBott]

The era of voluntary funding of the government would truly mark the installment of benevolence and good will amongst men.

[honestabe]

Is it plausible to just eliminate the income tax? We did have 150 years or so without it(USA) until it was introduced.

[Handidude]

This is really an ideal. People in general go along for the ride until things are needed. This is why fire departments used to charge a fee if the home owner wanted to be covered in case of a fire. You got a plaque to put on the front of your house. If you had a fire and you had a plaque no fee, if you had a fire and no plaque you got a bill for putting the fire out.
If you remove the corruption from government things would be a lot better.

[LucisFerre]

I agree with Rand that it's naive to think that a civilization will be capable of operating with no hierarchy whatsoever. But hierarchy does not equal living in a despotic dystopia. In some anarchist land, if you have your police force in a jurisdiction, & others have the same in another area, & one rules one way dealing with a man from the other jurisdiction & he says I don't recognize THAT authority...you're not left with a nation, but tribes. Anarchy is an appeal to collectivist tribalism.

[RollOver]

I really liked Yaron's take on voluntary checks writing. Good idea.

[joshmaeder]

If you want a service you should pay for it, you shouldn't force others to bear the cost. The essence of capitalism is voluntaryism, so therefore if you want something you should voluntarily pay for it with your own money, you shouldn't have the right to force your neighbor to foot the bill.

[leoxd]

Before anyone gets into this. The government doesn’t have „Revenue“ from taxes. It’s a receipt. Not revenue. Revenue is something you earn by providing goods or services to an individual or a company. The government doesn’t provide any goods or services in exchange for the tax receipt.

That out of the way, compulsory taxation is a bad incentive, I think a voluntary tax system would immediately solve many government caused or amplified issues, such as homelessness, inflation, low wage growth, the housing supply shortage etc. because the government would actually be at the mercy of the citizen, as it should be. 2:11 that is correct

[allthatyousee]

Civil courts could be paid for by fees on contracts, as Yaron suggests.

Criminal courts and the police could be paid for voluntarily at the city or county level. People see a direct benefit to their quality of life, so most citizens should be happy to donate. Maybe donors get a blue rosette to stick on their car, a bigger one if they donated more.

The army could be similarly funded - rather than donating to the national army, people may donate directly to certain regiments, e.g., those based in their state, so it becomes a local pride thing.

Either way, you don't need to rely on negative social sanctions as Yaron suggests - positive social approval would work better. You appeal to people's personal, civil and patriotic pride. Objectivism shies away from promoting such social emotions, but it seems a logical extrapolation from Rand's philosophy. We're not "every man for himself" desert island anarchists.

[johnathanvale]

Actually, black listing sounds like a great idea yaron. I never thought about that. 👍

[libertarianonwheels]

As a classical liberal I fundamentally believe that taxation should become voluntary. I also believe in the freedom of individuals to Supply their own forms of private security if that's what they prefer to do with their income. The fundamental function of a government is to protect individual rights

[remaining]

I absolutely would not and nobody I know would pay the government for police or military. Not because I feel as though I don't need the services but because the connection is not direct, it would be very hard to convince me that things will not go on as they always have without my contribution. In my experience and in my immediate circle of friends, the feeling of wanting to earn what you have, in the sense that he is talking about in this video, is very rare. It might be because we are young, or might be specific to the area we're from, and if so let me know I would like to hear what others opinions are.

[Lurker]

We already have free riders. So that argument point is pointless.

[alexanderleeart]

I would have been quite skeptical of this viewpoint until I read Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography, in which he mentions several examples of successful voluntary fundraising for public institutions like libraries and militias.

[joshmaeder]

We don't need all of these wasteful spending programs and agencies. I mean really is giving Dole to big Agri and giving handouts to those with no desire to work, really a proper role of government.

[nelsoncit]

A national sales taxes would not be coercion. Take the Fairtax proposal: used items (and food) sold privately are not taxed. So you would voluntarily be going to the store to buy new items. Adding Rands idea about the government enforcing contracts, anything bought new in the store that you pay sales tax on is a covered contract and you would have the right to take the seller to court. For items purchased privately you would need to register the sale (for a fee) to be covered in the courts.

[samippandey]

It's not "The people are undertaxed'", It's "The government is overfed"

[SarionFetecuse]

As an objectivist, wouldn't the answer be obvious to you? It's one word. COMPETITION!, government has none. (on it's own soil). If someone forces you in a court decision, people are not fully trusting agencies, and they would like prove to their customers, because they want their business. So they could set up third party audits. And just like ebay, you could have customer reviews. With a private police force, the police would be incentivized to do things such as 24/7 helmet cameras.

[DOTCurrency]

Anyone who thinks military would be expensive is wrong. A defensive military is very cheap, a 50, 000$ missile can take down a multi million dollar jet. Just look at how Afghanistan has defended their country from various superpower foreign invaders.

[Meditatum]

I reckon it's one of those things that you would have to see if it is true when we get to that stage where government is quite small. He's talking about a future where people have a lot of disposable income, and a respect for the rights of the individual. It's all about culture. The type of culture that would create a completely capitalist system would likely be a highly principled society because people only feel confortable to exist in a free society if they believe in the individual's ability to self-regulate and be charitable for their own self-interest.

[JaredLangdon]

In a free society there is no government at all. When Brook talks about services that are paid for voluntarily or through fees, he's talking about free enterprise, not government. Government is the entity that has a monopoly on the use of force. That's why you can't say that a society with a government is a "free" society.