Dealing with the US tax system it dawned to me that the taxation is a powerful tool of control.
It's not about the money the government takes. It's about forcing the citizen to prove that he is complying with the tax laws. To open his books, his actions, and show them to the tax authority. This power that the government has is used to insure further compliance with government rule.
100%. It's definitely not about the money, they can create that out of thin air. It's about control. They must keep you in fear and in compliance.
"It's definitely not about the money, they can create that out of thin air. It's about control. They must keep you in fear and in compliance."
If you're talking about banks, 100% correct. Most countries follow neoliberal policy, where banks "print" new money every time they issue a loan.
Having outsourced this power, governments can only influence the money supply indirectly. The closest they get to "printing" new money is encouraging the central bank to lower interest rates. In the hopes this will encourage people to take out loans faster than they're being paid off, growing the money supply. If inflation is rising, they can do the opposite. That's their monetary powers in a nutshell.
If governments want to increase spending, they have to raise either taxes or public debt. So the sensible ones are raising taxes, and a lot of wealthy people are actually encouraging that.
