Quote Originally Posted by Raistlin
So it's alright to take away freedom as long as it's for "public good?" The public is made up of individuals, and the individual is the one you're stealing property from.
I see a distinction between property and freedom.

Atlanta, Georgia had a terrible traffic problem. Simply put, the city's road infrastructure was horribly equipped to deal with the three million or so people who live in or around the city. The city decided to build a new toll road straight through the centre of the city to its northern suburbs. To do this, they had to utilize eminent domain to buy people's property. All told, I think it cost several hundred million dollars, but they built the extension to State Road 400, and suddenly, the several-hour backups that used to occur on 75 and 85 no longer occur, or are significantly shorter. (eestlinc could probably attest to this better than I could, since he actually lives there).

If the government had not been allowed to utilize eminent domain, this would have never happened. Virtually everyone who lives or works in the city now has an hour or more shaved from their commute to work. Somehow, I think that's more important than the so-called right of a few businesses to remain in the same location.

How does the rich businessman, who employs 5,000 people, get more from the community than the community gets from him? Yet these are the people from whom a price is demanded - a tax on their existence.
He buys mansions and yachts and what have you. Most of what he has, he only enjoys because he has people willing to work for him, who may not themselves be living in particularly decent conditions or even able to afford health care on their own. To me, that implies that he's getting a lot out of the community.

Think about the contract tax - it could not be so easily evaded as income tax. Income can be hidden and files and numbers changed and pushed around.
This is true, but I still side with Raf on the problems with the contract tax. If people couldn't afford the contract tax, they'd probably just fight to the death or something (although in some people's cases, that might not be the worst thing ;-)). That said, I agree that there are a number of problems with the way the income tax system is implemented. It's full of loopholes.