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Reading up this morning on tax filing procedures for crypto here in the land of the rising sun.
While I will be feeding the wolves something to keep them away from my family and I, I have other plans in place (all in accordance with applicable law, of course) to feed myself, as well.
Of course, anytime you have an individual or other entity (in this case, the "state") putting its fingers into a pie it didn't bake (they always do) the situation is an unethical and immoral one according to basic natural law property rights. That is to say, if I take my neighbor Joe's apple pie from his window sill, it is immoral because Joe's body is his own, and thus the labor he mixed with the previously unowned raw materials/ingredients using said body renders the new product (the pie) his own. Even if Joe hadn't ground his own flour, etc, and had purchased the ingredients for the pie from the store, the situation remains the same. Joe would have worked for the money with which he made the purchase using the actions of his body. He would have exchanged his money for the storekeeper's ingredients in a fair and voluntary trade. Thus, it can only logically follow that for me to take Joe's pie is to violate his self-ownership and in essence to claim I own him as a slave, at least in part.
Paid for by tax dollars. This is the height of civilized society?
A return to dignity: my view of the meaning of crypto.
Bitcoin was created in response to the economically absurd, inconvenient, violent, dehumanizing and downright evil actions of various nation states in regard to money and currency. When I say "evil," I mean it. Perhaps I should define that. When I say "evil" I mean " a perversion of natural order and natural law." Which is to say, a blatant, calculated, unapologetic and brutal denial of the immutable biological and metaphysical reality of individual self-ownership.
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have been created as a means by which humanity might return to sound economics, and by way of this, to a recognition of intrinsic human dignity. There is nothing honorable about being stolen from. Sound economics recognizes that each human being is a self-owner, and thus has full natural rights to the free and uninhibited exercise of his or her property, insofar as said exercise does not impinge on these very same rights of others.
What we see emerging now with nation states attempting to clamp down and tax (often at unbelievably exorbitant rates) the crypto holdings of investors, speculators, and simple users around the world, is the inevitable attempts of violence-based political entities (all modern, mainstream-recognized countries are) to keep power from leaving their hands and re-entering the hands of individual actors in a non-coercive free market. I think giving an example of how de-humanizing the current paradigm is to the individual might be advantageous here.
Think of the last time you received a paycheck from your employer. If you took the time to read all the deductions called "taxes," how did you feel as you read over them? Did you feel good knowing that the money you worked for had been taken without your consent, and that you had absolutely zero choice in the matter, and on top of that, that you had no choice in how the money would be spent, either?
Some people say they are happy and proud to pay taxes. Interestingly, none of them are hurrying to offer more, but are intensely interested in maximizing deductions. All humans with a working moral compass realize that to take money--FOR WHATEVER PURPOSE--from another individual without voluntary consent is theft. If I hold a gun to your head to extort funding for St. Jude's Children's Hospital my act is immoral all the same. If you think the metaphor of a gun is too strong, just try not paying taxes and resisting, when the state comes to collect them and/or you.
Now think of the first time you made a crypto transaction, paid in Bitcoin, or received some crypto from a friend. Think of your first sizable Steem payout. The transaction was immediate, wasn't it, with no middle man or third party entity attempting to arbitrarily take some of what you had worked or traded for. It felt good, didn't it? You put in the work. You got the full compensation. It is a simple balanced equation. This is sound economics, and this is an exchange that honors basic human dignity. Questions such as "Who will build the roads?" or "What about welfare recipients?" are irrelevant here. That is a matter for the free market to solve. What we DO KNOW FOR CERTAIN is that THEFT is always IMMORAL.
Actually, one of the main things the state is afraid of is generosity. That is, the real profusely generative nature of non-coercive, free market wealth. Just take a look and analyze the myriad charities, initiatives, support groups, and crypto-financial-aid endeavors happening everyday here on Steemit. Should we leave the economically unsound and mass-inflated, limitlessly-printed garbage currencies of the fiat (lit. "by decree") paradigm, and allow mathematics and human free will to subjectively value goods and services, the kid-drone-bombing, 6-trillion-dollar-losing, no-effort-inputting-but-still-taking-the-fruits-of-your-labor-and-efforts state will be shit out of luck, for lack of a better phrase.
So yeah. It's coming. The clash. Feed the wolves what you must, but don't forget why all of this started, either, or where it must ultimately go: if the state takes total control of the cryptosphere through violence, regulation, and fear mongering, crypto becomes as worthless, inconvenient, and violent as fiat. If crypto remains a monetary instrument of the dignified individual, the state can never fully embrace it. Wise as serpents, gentle as doves. Make your money, and make the world a better place. Just don't fool yourself into thinking there is no risk here, or that the line is not already drawn in the sand.
Which side are you on?
~KafkA
Graham Smith is a Voluntaryist activist, creator, and peaceful parent residing in Niigata City, Japan. Graham runs the "Voluntary Japan" online initiative with a presence here on Steem, as well as Facebook and Twitter. (Hit me up so I can stop talking about myself in the third person!)