From: Mike Ingle <MIKEINGLE@delphi.com>
Date: Wed, 12 Jan 94 21:52:15 PST
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Crypto & Taxes
Message-ID: <01H7M5G3SZHU99DOWQ@delphi.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


ssandfort@attmail.com wrote:

>Government tax policies are extremely susceptible to the "tipping
>factor."  Initially, non-compliance is addressed by simply hiking
>up collections across the boards.  When non-compliance reaches
>some critical factor, however, such techniques become counter-
>productive.  Previously compliant taxpayers begin to chaff at
>higher taxes and more aggressive collection.  More and more
>become non-compliant as taxes go higher and higher.  Eventually,
>the runaway chain reaction either causes the government to cut
>back or the system undergoes a core melt-down.  Non-crypto
>versions of this scenario have occurred repeatedly in countries
>around the world.

This is true of government in general. As it gets bigger, government
becomes more oppressive and hostile to the people. It also becomes
more hypocritical, ignoring its own laws and violating its own ideals.
The people then become less obedient, as they realize that the
government is taking advantage of them, and does not care about their
interests. The government becomes more and more oppressive in an
effort to force the people to obey. It soon turns into a police state,
and if the people can become organized enough, they will all refuse to
obey, and there will be a revolution. Communism is the best example.
Most people in those countries did not pick up guns and fight. They
just stopped obeying the government.

Computers, networks, and encryption are powerful organizing tools.
The Chinese have been known to put guards in front of fax machines
in government offices, because dissidents outside the country fax in
political information and news.

--- Mike