Pro-choicers must be anti-tax, no?

[Phil153]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I'm pro choice because I believe people should have very strong rights over their own body.

I'm pro tax because I don't believe people have very strong rights over every cent of the income they earn, since

- that money is gained in large part from interacting with society, and
- society itself has costs (current, future and historical) which go into providing this person with income.

[/ QUOTE ]

Labor theory of value!

Those costs should have been alredy accounted for in the transactions. If people do a poor job of accounting for those costs, they'll eventually be driven out of the market by those who do a better job of it.

The pencil I used three minutes ago required a lumberjack to cut the tree down, a driver to haul the tree to the mill, a mill operator to process the wood, another truck driver to take the processed wood to the pencil factory, a pencil maker guy to make the pencil, another driver to haul the pencil to WalMart, a WalMart stock guy to put the pencil on the shelf, and a cashier to process the transaction.

I don't owe any of theose people anything. Each person is compensated appropriately (by their own subjective valuations!) at each step along the way.

[/ QUOTE ]
I'm not saying the market doesn't account for costs. But if you think most of those earning much more are being compensated according to the value of the wealth they create, I think you're mistaken.

Some people benefit greatly from society, while others working the exact same hours benefit little. Part of taxation is a recognition that those working and earning in the bottom rungs are probably not being compensated fairly by the market (by fairly I mean, according to wealth created vs utility received). So I do not think those who have to pay taxes have any natural, god given right to retain every cent of their money. Certainly not the same kind of right that says a woman has an absolute right to determine what happens in her own body.

And I don't think the market accounts for society wide costs. Your point about going broke and being forced from the market breaks down when you look at country wide and global effects IMO.