Harry Reid is a Scumbag Liar

What does "voluntary" mean? (Via Kip)

Comments

[Aaron]

Helfeld's a laywer by training, right? So can we dispense up front with any pretense that he wasn't playing semantic games?

Who pushes the idea that any reference to a tax system as "voluntary" means that it is "optional"? Tax scammers, selling publications promising that people don't really have to pay their taxes.

Reid was drawing a distinction between compulsory tax systems (e.g., gas, alcohol) and voluntary tax systems (e.g., U.S. income tax). So what we have is an interviewer haranguing Reid over the accurate use of a term of art - trying to insist that any consequence for noncompliance renders a the system "forceful", and thus not voluntary. Reid's mistake seems to be assuming that his interviewer was be acting in good faith, rather than fishing for anti-tax sound bites or something to toss up on YouTUBE.

There is no such thing as a tax system that is "voluntary" in the sense used by the interviewer. Nowhere in the world. So why should Reid respond as if such a chimerical system exists, rather than grounding his answer in reality? Why shouldn't he try to educate the interviewer, who certainly already knows better, about what it means for a tax system to be voluntary?

[Publius]

Aaron - I think you assume too much. The term "voluntary tax" is a farce, an exercise in linguistic gymnastics. Calling a tax "voluntary" merely because it is up to the individual to report its liability is absurd. Now, I understand that's not the point you were making. However, I'm not sure Reid has any idea about the distinction, truly, between voluntary and compulsory taxation.

Moreover, as a politician, and an experienced one at that, he should be smarter than to be caught up in a word game that he has no chance of winning.

In any event, I agree with Mike - Harry Reid is a lying scumbag.

[Aaron]

I assume nothing. You can call it a "farce" if you want, but it is still the term that is applied to our system of income taxation. You may prefer a different term to distinguish "voluntary" systems of taxation from compulsory systems, but Reid correctly used the term we actually use in this country. I'm not going to speculate that he doesn't actually understand the distinction; the video suggests the opposite.

Call him a "lying scumbag" if you will, but let's not pretend this video supports that label.

[markm]

"Voluntary" is at best a term of art, with a legal interpretation almost opposite from the common meaning. Reid was on TV, not in a court of law. If he's smart enough to be elected to Congress, he's smart enough to know that it's a misleading term.

[Aaron]

Reid was on TV? On what planet? Er, I mean channel?