(06-03-2010, 11:24 PM)kandrathe Wrote:First, they're EU citizens. That means they can go practically anywhere in Europe to live and work. Prefer the UK? Italy? Spain? Poland? Take your pick.(06-03-2010, 12:43 AM)Jester Wrote: It refers to a specific historical class, characterized by two things: forced labour, and the inability to leave the land.Where would they go? How would they live without working? How do you opt out?
It is not voluntary. It is a force of law, punishable by force.
Second, nobody is forcing them to work, nor earn any given amount of income (which, by the by, is exactly what serfdom forces). If they want to be slackers and work at a cafe somewhere, getting by on as little as possible, that's their prerogative. If even that amount of tax is too much, then move elsewhere.
Third, if they have sufficient wealth, they can live without working just fine. I'm not sure Denmark is exactly where you'd want to hold a gigantic bank account, but if you did, you wouldn't have to worry about income taxes.
If the standard you're holding countries up to is a place where you can live without working, that's crazy. There is no such place on this ball of rock, and there wouldn't be even if governments collected no taxes whatsoever. But the ways in which you can opt out of any particular tax (by moving, by not earning, by not spending) are much the same in Denmark as anywhere else. The only difference is the rate of collection, which is determined democratically by the elected representatives of the Danes. It's not going to get much less oppressive than that.
-Jester
It astounds me that you're willing to stand behind that metaphoric mess - and pile on a half-dozen others while you're at it. It's now a bubbly smoke and mirrors train with an unclothed monarch. Or something.
A gravy train is a rail train, not a wagon train. The rest is garbled nonsense.
-Jester