Increasing Taxes and Increasing Revenue are Not Synonymous

The thieves at the Minnesota State Capitol have apparently made an agreement to increase the deficit on the budget meaning the state shutdown is over. Like most agreements this one has left everybody wanting. What really galls me though is the fact that those angry about the lack of tax increases keep referring to it as a revenue increase. Calling taxation revenue is one of the biggest misnomers out there.

Think about it, if a thug on the street puts a gun to your head and takes your money do we say the thug has increased his revenue? No, we say he has stolen money. Revenue implies money that has been obtained through voluntary exchange. Taxation is not voluntary exchange but theft. Mark Dayton wasn’t looking to increase the state’s revenue he was looking to steal more money from Minnesota citizens.

Thus we shouldn’t say that the budget agreement included a lack of increasing the state’s revenue, we should be saying the budget agreement included the state stealing less money from us.

And before anybody bring it up I do realize I spend a lot of time ranting about this subject. It’s not because I think the verbiage is all that important, it’s because I want to point out the double standard most people have. When a private individuals uses violence to take from another we call that individual a thief whereas when a government uses violence to take from many people we call it taxation and legitimize it. Whether you believe the ends of taxation justify the means is debatable but saying taxation isn’t a form of theft is flat out lying.