Forum Post: Thomas Paine talking about an estate tax
Posted 13 years ago on Oct. 18, 2011, 1:58 a.m. EST by thebeastchasingitstail
(1912)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
Separate an individual from society, and give him an island or a continent to possess, and he cannot acquire personal property. He cannot be rich. So inseparably are the means connected with the end, in all cases, that where the former do not exist the latter cannot be obtained. All accumulation, therefore, of personal property, beyond what a man's own hands produce, is derived to him by living in society; and he owes on every principle of justice, of gratitude, and of civilization, a part of that accumulation back again to society from whence the whole came.
This is putting the matter on a general principle, and perhaps it is best to do so; for if we examine the case minutely it will be found that the accumulation of personal property is, in many instances, the effect of paying too little for the labor that produced it; the consequence of which is that the working hand perishes in old age, and the employer abounds in affluence.
-Thomas Paine
I love Thomas Paine, by far the best founding father. Hey the righties love to bring his name up yet Paine would be disgusted at their politics. He believed in a hardcore welfare state where the government should use taxes to make sure no one is poor. He also believe no one should be homeless and that their should always be public works programs that would pay and house them.
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Exactly!
Isn't that inhibiting my personal freedom of choosing where my assets go after I die?
It may be a freedom but it's not a liberty. It's important to know the difference. Unrestricted freedom for the individual would mean that they could kill people and it would be ok. I guess unless you don't consider freedoms that hurt other people's freedom freedom.