Notice the scenario in this IRS recruiting program is “taking down a landscape business owner who failed to properly report how he paid for his vehicles,” not “taking down a billionaire who uses the corporate jet for private trips.”pic.twitter.com/QXlHmDCoWb
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) August 19, 2022
I don’t totally agree with the following author on bitcoin, because as it’s digital and depends on an internet, the governments of the world can collapse it in an instant if they wish to, but he does make a valid historical point.
Taxation was a significant contributor to the fall of the Roman Empire.
And the US is marching toward a similar fate.
🧵👇
2/ During the height of the Roman Empire, the state was fiscally healthy.
Currency was stable, revenues from taxes were steady & not overbearing, and expenses were manageable.
But Rome’s tax revenue relied heavily on land.
3/ In the 2nd Century, the Roman Empire’s expansion slowed.
Eventually, coming to a halt.
Problematic b/c there were no new regions to produce tax revenues.
Paired with high costs, particularly military expenses & entitlements, the Empire’s fiscal position was weakened.
4/ To fill gaps between revenue & cost, Emperors began debasing [increasing money supply] the Denarius, the silver coin of the Empire.
The silver content of Denarius:
AD 64: : 93.5%
AD 150: 83.5%
AD 241: 48%
AD 260: 20%
AD 274: 5%
5/ The debasement allowed the Empire to siphon wealth from the citizens & economy to pay expenses w/o having to tax explicitly.
Eventually, it was not enough, and taxes were increased.
W/ no new land to tax, 3rd Century Emperors hiked taxes on more basic goods & existing land.
6/ & created new enforcement bodies to impose excessive taxes.
The tax “reforms” eventually caused mass bankruptcy and even starvation.
By the 4th century, the Roman economy was so weak & tax structure so oppressive that farmers were abandoning the land for public entitlements.
7/ Tax collectors could face the death penalty for failing to collect enough.
Some parents sold their children to pay taxes rather than be tortured.
The situation was dire.
Romans’ livelihoods were destroyed between inflation & taxes.
8/ “By the fifth century, men were ready to abandon civilization itself to escape the fearful load of taxes.”
There were tax riots & rebellions.
And the state used the army to stomp out revolts.
Few farmers remained.
Starvation was rampant.
9/ Barbarians raided the weak Empire.
Some Romans even fought alongside the barbarians after being push to their limits.
And after several invasions, the Empire fell.
In 476, the Germanic barbarian king Odoacer deposed the last emperor of the Roman Empire, Romulus Augustulus.
10/ The story of the Roman Empire shares many similarities to the US today:
• Money printing
• Higher taxes
• Enforcement agents
• Fewer freedoms
• Growing wealth gap
It’s clear that the US is in “Late Stage Empire” mode.
11/ Money printing & taxes are excessive already.
Due to the crony fiat system, the top 1% own a record amount of wealth.
And their strategy is simple.
Own assets – print more money – increase their wealth.
Those that don’t own assets are left behind.
12/ Great example – March 2020 and the end of 2021, the US money supply was increased by $6.4 TRILLION.
Wall St had a record year.
CEOs hit new highs on net worth.
But Main Street America was crushed.
Roughly 60% of businesses that shut down in 2020 closed permanently.
13/ Per CNBC, “The top 1% owned a record 32.3% of the nation’s wealth as of the end of 2021.”
And despite this, the elite class wants to grow the wealth gap further.
By doubling down on money printing and increasing the tax apparatus w/ their latest “Inflation Reduction Act.”
14/ The Act calls for hiring of 87,000 new IRS agents.
Ppl getting badges, weapons, & the authority to terrorize the middle class.
Even though taxes are ridiculous already and many small businesses were forced to shut down.
They want more $ from you!
15/ Taxes & inflation are weapons to maintain elite privilege at our expense.
The Founding Fathers didn’t stand for the outright theft of their savings even at a much smaller scale.
And now, US citizens have egregious tax bills, & it’s getting worse.
16/ The US, like all great empires of the past, is collapsing.
Unless, we can steer the ship around.
But that requires a system change.
A restoration of sound money.
Since elites control the creation of money, they control the world.
We need money out of their control.
17/ #Bitcoin is the life raft from the sinking ship of the US empire and collapsing fleet of currencies.
An incorruptible money.
History & current events show that elites will always debase money to enrich themselves.
18/ They steal from productive members of society until civilization collapses.
By taking control over money away, #bitcoin restores economic incentives and provides a fair foundation for us to rebuild anew.
Fix the money, fix the world [ h/t @MartyBent]