Re: [Marxism-Thaxis] Taxes
In a message dated 6/8/2009 1:30:38 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, rashe...@eircom.net writes: The capitalist state and taxation. The capitalist state forces revenue out of the workers in the form of taxation. There is no such thing as taxpayers' money! Paddy Hackett Comment This is so right. The vocabulary and language of economics reflects, and in turn dictates, the logic of an economic system. Terms such as money, tax, capital, labor, debt, interest, profits, employment, market, depreciation, employment, job, etc., are conceptualized to describe components of a system created by power politics. The broad use of these terms over time makes an artificial system appear as the product of natural laws, rather than the conceptual components of power politics. Power politics is what beats a person down and make them a slave. In modern society, we know that no one is "just" a slave or a wage slave. Rather, individuals are forced into slavery, including wage slavery. If an individual or class cannot live without selling its labor ability for wages, this social relation is extreme compulsion under the threat of starvation, destitution and jailing by the state authority. Just as monarchism was rationalized as a natural law of politics in the past, the same is true with the market and capitalism today. Taxes are just another conceptual framework and instrument of capital rule and rationale for perpetuating the system of wage slavery. In history, taxes have always been a form of exploitation of labor perpetuated by the propertied (ruling) classes. The workers and everyone else are taught that paying taxes is necessary for the government to pay for its debt. This is not true. Government does not have debt or rather government debt is purely an agreement between capitalists controlling the state, government and relations of production. How can government have debt when it issues currency that can only be converted into more currency? When a state road or public school is built by government, the workers doing the work are paid wages in the form of money - currency. These wages are paid by a capitalist company hiring the workers or paid directly by government. The corporation gets the money for wages from the government. The government prints the money and pays it to the corporation to deploy the services of its wage slaves. When the government pays money to the corporation, what it is actually doing is creating credit and not debt. Money - currency is a credit thing - instrument, and not a debt instrument. Currency is an instrument to settle debt. When a government issues currency is owes no one anything. When you are given currency, you are being given a credit instrument and not a debt instrument. Today, one does not have to touch currency but can have symbols put into their banking account and use a debit card to use this credit for the purchase of commodities. We are taught that the government is creating debt by printing money, extending credit to corporations that in turn use this same credit to game in the market and pay workers or extend them credit that is used to purchase commodities. Modern economics (bourgeois political economy) is a game designed to keep the workers confused and keep them passive as wage slaves. When the government turns around and tax wages and company payrolls, it is not collecting revenue to pay for its debt. Rather, it is taking credit out of the market and economy. As much as I hate the conservative economists on the far right, they are correct to say that taxes distort the market and economy by withdrawing needed credit. At the same time the conservatives are horribly wrong in insisting and defending the market economy as the best form of economy. They are wrong because government can print more money. The market economy is the absolute worse form of economy for a modern society increasing run based on electronic means of production and non convertible currency. That is the currency can only be converted into another currency or more paper - stocks, bonds, fiction capital, etc. Electronic means of production reduces the amount of human labor in a commodity and slowly destroys the price form of commodities because of its greater productiveness. Generations have been taught that extending government credit means debt. This is not so. The benefit of a country having a government backed and printed currency is two fold: first this means the government is not dependent on private banks issues their own currency. When private banks issue currency the only way anyone can get this currency is by following what ever rules the private banks create and enforce. The only way the private banks can enforce their rules is with the blessing and protection of the state, which controls the army, police and jail system. Government serves the capitalis
[Marxism-Thaxis] Taxes Again
Hi We are constantly bombarded with the sound byte -- "taxpayers money". This contains the assumption that the revenue collected by the capitalist state in the form of taxation is the money of taxpayers. This obviously implies that the taxpayer in some way owns this money. In the first place the taxpayer is a category that can include all classes since each of the social classes pays taxes. This constitutes an attempt to suggest that there obtains a deep unity between the classes. Assuming that this basis exists then there is only a short way to go towards politically creating an all class alliance. But the point is that state revenue in the form of taxation is just that --state revenue. It is revenue owned and controlled by the state. It is not the revenue of the taxpayers. This is why the expression "taxpayers money" is so misleading in the struggle against capitalism. It misrepresents the class interests of the working class and seeks to subordinate those interests to that of the capitalist class in an all class alliance. The point is that taxation is extracted from the working class by the force of the state. The working class have no choice in the matter within the context of capitalism. The working class has only choice with the context of an alternative --the alternative between capitalism and communism. This means that the workers, to challenge this imposition of tax on it, must mount an attack on the political state as part of an integral programme to attack and detroy capitalism. Paddy Hackett Note: Apologies for repeating this postin. It is just that the other copies were poorly formatted that I felt compelled to do it out again. ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
[Marxism-Thaxis] Taxes
The capitalist state and taxation. The capitalist state forces revenue out of the workers in the form of taxation. There is no such thing as taxpayers' money! Paddy Hackett We are constantly bombarded with the soundbyte --"taxpayers money".This contains the assumption that the revenue collected by the capitalist state in the form of taxation is taxpayers' money.This obviously implies that the taxpayer in someway owns this money. In the first place the taxpayer is a category that can include all classes since each of the social classes pays taxes.This constitutes an attempt to suggest that there obtains a deep unity between the classes. Assuming that this basis exists then there is only a short way to go to politically creating an all class alliance. But the point is that state revenue in the form of taxation is just that --state revenue. It is revenue that is controlled and owned by the state. It is not the revenue of the taxpayers. This is why the expression "taxpayers' money" is so misleading in the struggle against capitalism. It misrepresents the class interests of the working class and seeks to subordinate those interests to that of the capitalist class in an all class alliance. The point is that taxation is extracted from the working class by the force of the state. The working class have no choice in the matter within the context of capitalism. The working class have only choice within the context of an alternative --the alternative between capitalism and communism. This means that the workers, to challenge this imposition of tax on it, must mount an attack on the political state as part of an integral programme to attack and destroy capitalism. Paddy Hackett ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
[Marxism-Thaxis] Taxes and Workers
The capitalist state and taxation. The capitalist state forces revenue out of the workers in the form of taxation. There is no such thing as taxpayers' money! Paddy Hackett We are constantly bombarded with the soundbyte --"taxpayers money".This contains the assumption that the revenue collected by the capitalist state in the form of taxation is taxpayers' money.This obviously implies that the taxpayer in someway owns this money. In the first place the taxpayer is a category that can include all classes since each of the social classes pays taxes.This constitutes an attempt to suggest that there obtains a deep unity between the classes. Assuming that this basis exists then there is only a short way to go to politically creating an all class alliance. But the point is that state revenue in the form of taxation is just that --state revenue. It is revenue that is controlled and owned by the state. It is not the revenue of the taxpayers. This is why the expression "taxpayers' money" is so misleading in the struggle against capitalism. It misrepresents the class interests of the working class and seeks to subordinate those interests to that of the capitalist class in an all class alliance. The point is that taxation is extracted from the working class by the force of the state. The working class have no choice in the matter within the context of capitalism. The working class have only choice within the context of an alternative --the alternative between capitalism and communism. This means that the workers, to challenge this imposition of tax on it, must mount an attack on the political state as part of an integral programme to attack and destroy capitalism. Paddy Hackett ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
