Privacy is a cornerstone of civilization. Most people who are into cryptos value their privacy. The end of financial privacy came up along with the advent of personal income taxes. So let's take a look at the history of taxation for a moment. You can memorize these points when you debate with a commie. Now this isn't a list that covers the entire history of human civilization. I'm just taking portions of history that is valuable to the discussion.
The outrageous Tax rates of Wang Mang of the Xin Dynasty
In 9 AD, Wang Mang instituted a revolutionary land redistribution system, ordering that all land in the empire become legally the property of the empire, to be known as wangtian (王田), in a system similar to the Zhou well-field system. All further land transactions were banned, although property owners were allowed to continue to possess the property. However, if a family had less than eight members but had one "well" or larger property (about 0.6 km2), it was required to distribute the excess to fellow clan members, neighbors, or other members of the same village. Criticism of the wangtian system was punishable by exile.
This was many centuries before Karl Marx and and you could even say he was the first idiot to create sort of a proto-central bank. Yes. This royal idiot (pun intended) started market manipulation to create a Utopia. Of course the name "Utopia" didn't exist at the time. It was the Chinese classic (Zhōngguó gǔdiǎn diǎnjí) he took inspiration from.
In 10, Wang set up a state economic adjustment agency, seeking to control fluctuations in the prices of food and textiles by purchasing excess goods and then selling them when the price went up. The same agency also became responsible for loaning money to entrepreneurs, at the rate of three percent per month.
Of course the rates were several time higher compared to what the FED is offering. In some developed hellholes there is even negative interest rates. After all these are just proto-central banking. But I still didn't talk about the worst disastrous policy of all. This royal Asshat came up with income tax and started state monopolies!!! The tax was MASSIVE. People were really pissed. USSA used to have a top income tax of 92% even Bernie Sanders support that level of taxation even today (http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/nov/15/bernie-s/income-tax-rates-were-90-percent-under-eisenhower-/) What do you think happened in the land of the commies???
It was an unprecedented income tax, at the rate of 10 percent of profits, for professionals and skilled labor and he was overthrown 13 years later in 23 AD
People at the beginning of the first century didn't had enough public good in their hearts to swallow a 10% tax. These days even places like HK and Singapore doesn't offer such rates. Emperor Wang Mang also instituted a state monopoly on liquor and weapons. and that didn't help with the Utopian pipe dream expenditures either. By 17 AD imperial coffers coffers were so depleted that Wang instituted six monopolies on liquor, salt, iron, coinage, forestry, and fishing. Now here is some news. IT DIDN'T HELP AT ALL. This is practically captain obvious stuff. But when greed and envy gets coupled with unfiltered stupidity, people loose sight.
Although the tax rates were heavenly compared to the modern days If a person's land exceeded 0.6 square kilometers, those people were ordered to distribute the "excess" land to neighbors or relatives. The end of his times completely rhymes with the modern times. I'll let you read a piece written about this idiot.
The entire empire was already collapsing, but Wang Mang did not care, but rather buried his head in what is old, believing that once he returned the government structure to the old days, the empire will be peaceful. He only sought to establish proper ceremony and music day and night, and he sought to create explanations for all of the Confucian classics by making tortured interpretations, without spending time on the important affairs of state. Before he could complete his ceremonies and music, he was already killed. This kind of behavior is even more childish than a three-year-old child. There is a common contemporary idiom, "foolishness is but a form of trickery." But for Wang Mang, his trickery was only a form of foolishness.
Change a few words and we practically have our commie leaning developed countries explained. This is just one case. I have a habit of putting too much info into my works. So I'll add a few more stuff.
Roman Republic
__ land, homes and other real estate, slaves, animals, personal items and monetary wealth were taxed. It's said taxes are the price we pay for civilization. So how much did this great Roman "Empire" payed in taxes in its earlier days? At the worst conditions (Like the times of 92% taxes) Romans had an almost 31 times lower tax rate of 3% These were the war time tax. When there is no war, taxes were much smaller. they were in fact 92 times smaller than the war time taxes of USSA. Romans were taxed at 1%__
Few Tax Facts on USSA
On July 1st 1862 President Abraham Lincoln got the Internal Revenue Act of 1862 (which was a revision of an earlier flat rate income tax passed in 1861) to combat inflation and finance the war. How did this inflation even occure in the first place? It was through the abandonment of the gold standard. Basically Lincoln became a proto-Nixon and started printing unbacked money out of thin air called Greenbacks. By 1863 there were already $1000 notes. Here is a pic courtesy of Wikipedia:
_This is before a whole lot of inflation and by the time it was 1918 there were 10,000 dollar notes being printed. Now did you think a Bitcoin is Huge? Even under bogus inflation statistics that has been tampered with by changing the methods they are calculated we still get a value close to a quarter million USD. 20 USD were pegged to 1 ounce of gold. If we calculate based on that......
We get 661,740 USD for the above note at today's prices for gold. Imagine carrying 661,740 USD in your wallet as a single note. I do think gold is likely to hit $5000 in the next financial crash. If that happens you are looking at 1.25 million USD folded in your pocket.
The Continental Dollar designed by Benjamin Franklin
Ben Franklin is one of my favorite politicians even though I'm not a fan of politics at all. I just love it how instead of trusting a god, the currency itself just said to mind one's own business. In one way this is just pure Laissez-faire show off coupled with promoting of freedom.
Beyond that the term also tells people to have good business sensibilities. War is destructive. Trade is constructive. Know which one to support.
"In 1939, about 15% of the people paid income tax. That's all, period. At the end of the war, we had 80% of our families paying income tax."
Also note this:
The Federal Reserve is not an agency of the federal government, but it has been given power to regulate banks and financial institutions. FED is 100% owned by private banks.
FED is a "For profit" company. It pays a guaranteed 6% return to its banker shareholders. The source is the same one above.
I don't know how many people even know this fact. There is no public good when it comes to FED.
@d-zero/10-mind-blowing-facts-on-the-federal-reserve-us-economy-and-nature-of-money-from-a-austrian-economist-newbie