I am a liberal and I'm proud

[donathos]

SciFiBoy said:

TheRealMafoo said:

SciFiBoy said:

Broncos724 said:

 

Doesn't it amount to the same thing though if a rich person is forced by a third party (gov't) to give some of his wealth to a poor person? The only difference is that the poor person isn't doing the stealing.

taxation is not stealing

 

Taxation to run government, no. Taxation for entitlements, yes.

That's why the Robin Hood line is not “Tax the rich and give to the poor”, it's “Steal from the rich and give to the poor”.

It's stealing, just government approved theft.

its not stealing, its taking a fair amount of money from the rich to help the poor, i dont define helping the less fortunate as theft, i feel sorry for anyone who does

Nobody defines helping the less fortunate as theft, so you don't have to feel sorry for anyone.  Voluntary charity, for instance, is clearly not theft.

Some people do, however, define theft as taking someone's money or property away from them, against their will.  Perhaps if you think about it carefully, you can see why some might consider taxation a form of theft.  (Which is not to say that I personally believe that all taxation is theft--I don't--but I don't think such a point of view is particularly misguided or unwarranted.)

Incidentally, maybe I misremember Robin Hood... but I think that Robin's crimes were thefts against the government's men, taking back the money taxed from the citizens.  Isn't that right?