The Old Protection Racket

Imagine this. You deicide to open a little business, maybe a retail store. Business is going fine.

One day some tough-looking guys show up at your door and walk up to the counter. But they are not customers. The one guys says, with mock innocence,"You got a nice little business here. It would be a shame if anything happened to it." You agree that it would be a shame if anything happened to it. The tough guy explains that to ensure you stay in business, you will periodically get to pay out what "the boss" determines to be a fair amount. If you fail to pay enough or pay on time, there will be consequences. 

It seems like a scene from a noire movie from years ago. But wait! A variation of this is happening today to every small business (and every individual). It's called income tax. 

As we approach the middle of April, consider the parallels. You have to pay an amount determined to be fair by powers over which you have no control. If you don't pay enough or don't pay on time, you can  face fines, penalties and, in extreme cases, worse. They can destroy your "nice little business." They can hassle and harass you until you pay, and you can't even call the cops - they are the cops!

Consider also all the small businesses that were forced to go under without the government having to resort to the tax code. Governments told them what they could and couldn't do, who they could and couldn't serve, based on some vague, questionable public health concerns. In Michigan you could shop for groceries, but the same store could not sell other items, for example, home improvement and gardening supplies.

The only difference between this loss of freedom through forced compliance and the good old protection racket is that in the latter case, we didn't elect "the boss." But the people of Michigan, and many other places, are apparently OK with this intrusion on their freedom as they reelected the same bosses (or their close  associates).