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Guardian

Guardian

US Politics

US Politics

It’s time for Americans to withhold their taxes | Judith Levine

Guardian
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65% Informative

Trump ’s non-billionaire followers appear thrilled that Elon Musk and his so-called “department of government efficiency” are burning down the government.

This is how kleptocracies work. Taxes are collected from the hoi polloi. The more benign government functions housing the poor, postponing climate apocalypse are abolished. But the rest of these functions do not entirely disappear.

Judith Levine : The vanguard of 21st century far right populism was the Tea party, an anti-tax movement.

Levine : For anti-government ideologues, it’s important that people not have good experiences with the government.

The reason to withhold your taxes is not to cheat the government of much-needed funds, it is to expose the criminality of what is being done and not done with the money the state has a legal and moral obligation to collect.