Publicani

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Savino: WGCH News Center, the time is 8:21, and my guest now is Zak Maymin, who is a Greenwich resident, author of the book, “Publicani.” Good morning Zak, welcome, thank you for coming in this morning.

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Zak Maymin’s interview about Publicani

Taped Interview of Zak Maymin on Publicani on April 12, 2008

 If you want to skip the introduction, slide the tape to 08:58.

Click on the image to see it in a larger size.

ZAK MAYMIN, Author of Publicani, will be featured on
WGCH News (1490am) on Friday 4/25 8:20-8:30am EST.

YOU CAN LISTEN ONLINE BY CLICKING HERE AROUND 8:15am.

It looks like the U.S. Government takes in taxes at least about 50% of the national income, and borrows another 50%. If this is true, it means that the entire national income - everything that we earn - the government spends on the project it deems important, such as Iraq.

It’s pretty serious. I’ll tell you what my sources are - please let me know if I am making a mistake in my numbers. [Read more →]

Greenwich Post (CT)

April 17, 2008

Fight income tax and we could save the United States

Section: Editorial
Page: 6A

To the editor

Iraq, the world’s highest percentage of people in prison, warrantless phone and e-mail searches, the Fed printing money like there’s no tomorrow, bans on medical use of marijuana and other drugs, suspension of habeas corpus, searching your shoes at the airport, transferring private property from one citizen to another for higher government tax revenue - these are examples of the modern state of the United States.

Those are not necessarily the best examples, just some indicators pointing to a rotten state. Who do you think the enemy is? The lobbyists? Potential terrorists? The rich? It feels like a seven-headed dragon is conducting a full-scale assault on our lives, property and liberty. It attacks us from the left and right - both Republicans and Democrats voted for the Iraq war and the Patriot Act. It attacks us from above and below - both the government makes laws assaulting our liberties and the people keep voting for such a government. [Read more →]

This discussion is a continuation of Direct taxation kills freedom, indirect taxation does not.

So, if I understand correctly, you would support green taxes that charge for resource use, such as water taxes, oil taxes, pollution taxes, land taxes, food taxes, etc? To me that seems realistically achievable in our lifetimes.

Ryan

Suppose there are three countries: one has no taxes at all, another has indirect taxes, such as “water taxes, oil taxes, pollution taxes, land taxes, food taxes, etc.,” and the third one has only income tax. I guess we both, you and I, would have preferred the first country. But suppose furthermore that the first country does not exist and the only choice we have is between the remaining two countries, equal in all aspects except that one has only income tax and the other has indirect taxes. Let’s say the other has the food tax. It makes it harder to argue against this indirect tax, as opposed to, say, tariffs, because it eliminates right away one of the main reasons why indirect taxation is better than direct taxation: you can avoid activity that leads to indirect taxation. With the food tax, you can’t.

There are still at least five other reasons why income tax is worse than the food tax. [Read more →]