I just read that Peter Schiff's father, Irwin Schiff, has been jailed for 12 years for not paying income tax. Like Peter, he's a hard money guy and sincerely believes the US constitution does not implicate having to pay an income tax. The guy is 85 years old, has never been convicted of any violent crime & is serving 13 years in total (one year extra for contempt of court).
Here Peter's being interviewed by Doug Casey on the matter.
I get that income tax, whether constitutionally sound or not, has to be paid. An inevitability of life today, but there is something very, very wrong if old men get jailed for years for honest dissent. Whenever anarchocapitalists & the like tell me the government is like a maffia, because they take whatever they want by threat of force, I shrug. Most civil servants fulfill contemptible & unnecessary jobs to be sure, but in the end they do it to feed a family, not conviction. (Also: governments do some useful stuff too -- yeah, they do, whatever libertarians may claim.)
This story does make me realize: when it comes to income tax the government really shows itself to be a bully of the worst sort. It should be possible for someone to object to income tax, in word and deed, without ending up in jail.
NB Peter mentions in the interview that his father is listed as a terrorist: an 85 year old man, objecting to income tax (with a good case, btw). Yup, typical terrorist. This also show anti-terrorist get abused big time to get rid of people the government finds a nuisance.
Thoughts?
Here Peter's being interviewed by Doug Casey on the matter.
I get that income tax, whether constitutionally sound or not, has to be paid. An inevitability of life today, but there is something very, very wrong if old men get jailed for years for honest dissent. Whenever anarchocapitalists & the like tell me the government is like a maffia, because they take whatever they want by threat of force, I shrug. Most civil servants fulfill contemptible & unnecessary jobs to be sure, but in the end they do it to feed a family, not conviction. (Also: governments do some useful stuff too -- yeah, they do, whatever libertarians may claim.)
This story does make me realize: when it comes to income tax the government really shows itself to be a bully of the worst sort. It should be possible for someone to object to income tax, in word and deed, without ending up in jail.
NB Peter mentions in the interview that his father is listed as a terrorist: an 85 year old man, objecting to income tax (with a good case, btw). Yup, typical terrorist. This also show anti-terrorist get abused big time to get rid of people the government finds a nuisance.
Thoughts?