Thread by @ErnstRoets

The service delivery I’m getting from @CityTshwane is the worst I have ever received. I asked a supervisor if they agree that I should stop paying taxes. They said they agree that I can be angry, because I’m getting no service, but I must please keep paying taxes.

My tax money pays the salaries of people who are sitting in government buildings, not doing the work they are getting for; to people who are completely dependent on “the system” but whose “system is down” every time someone has a problem, & who have no clue how the system works.

There is a reason why we pay tax, because people have engaged in a social contract: they create a state & elect a government among themselves, they limit their freedom to do whatever they want and they pay money to the state with the aim of improving their lives as a collective.

If we (the people) breach the “contract” (i.e. if we break the law), the state has the “right” to take action against us, throw us in prison and use violence if necessary. If the elected government doesn’t comply to their part of the contract, we have no legal remedy.

If you have a contract with someone, you comply with what is expected of you, and the other side doesn’t, that is a breach if contract, and by law you can cancel the contract. Our only effective remedy re the state seems to be witholding tax money, but that would be illegal.

If however people were to stop paying taxes en masse, perhaps the state would learn the valuable lesson that it is they who should fear the people, not the other way around; that people have the power to collapse the system, which would be a horrible thing... or would it?

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