Ten Principles of
Christian Separatism

9. Pay Low Taxes and Interest
      - Legally

Taxes
Taxes support poltical elites and interest payments support financial elites. Therefore, in eXile, we shall endeavor to pay as little of each as is legally possible.

Currently, the federal government taxes people's incomes, not their property. Therefore, make sure your annual income is low.

What is income? The law defines it as "Any accretion to wealth, from whatever source derived." Theoretically, income need not be in the form of dollars, but can consist of the value of goods and services provided to you.

What is not income? Property you already own is not income. Property you create for yourself with your own labor is not income. Gifts or inheritances to you are not income. Goods or services rendered to you by family or friends are not income, as these are considered gifts.

In a world governed by Christian charity, there would be no income. A man, using property he already has, can support himself. He raises crops and livestock for food. He hunts for food - the venison he eats is not income. He can heat and power his home with sun and wind and timber. Clothing can be had for the asking. It is routinely given away.

A man can give whatever surplus he has to a neighbor - an act of Christian charity. That is not income to his neighbor. A man receives housekeeping and childrearing services from his wife, but that is not income. A wife receives support from her husband, but that is not income. Children receive support and perform chores, but they neither receive nor pay income to anyone. A man's community is his insurance. The Amish help one another build their barns. In the event of fire or flood, his neighbors render charitable assistance. He needs no "paid insurance," which by the way, often fails to pay its holder. He needs no "dollars" to pay for insurance.

Some things require income. Feed and Seed used to be advance on credit, but you may have to pay for them in "dollars." Ammunition, new tools and equipment may have to be purchased.

But learn this lesson well. It is perfectly possible, and in fact used to be routine, that a man and his family could survive on little or no income.

Traditional Americans survived on a small holding of wealth, usually unmortgaged land. Their economic activity was land-based: farming, hunting, fishing, logging. Others applied labor and skills to the usufructs of land: grocers, millers, carpenters, craftsman, butchers and refiners.

Land-based economic activity creates local commerce, as opposed to interstate commerce or international trade. Land-based economic activity leads to the economic independence of the individual and his community. Economic independence leads to political independence.

The modern lifestyle is different. Farming and other land based activities like hunting and logging are eschewed. Men seek out "professional careers." These careers require people to leave their homes and live in urban centers. In exchange, they are paid wages or salaries. Every penny is income. Every penny is taxed. One third of your wage or salary goes directly to the government and you don't get it back unless they say its OK. Most people pay more than income taxes to the federal government - property taxes, sales taxes and State income taxes. Many of the State and local taxes are the result of "unfunded mandates," legislation by which the higher level government mandates but does not fund lower level government programs.

In New York State, for example, the State's average income is $33,564. This is a bare subsistence income. Total federal, state and local taxes on such an income average $12,452. [1] Thus, the total tax rate on a subsistence income is 37%. This leaves a take home pay of $21,112 - barely above the poverty line for a family of four.

But taxes on your income is just the beginning, because the remaining "income" you receive for your labor is insufficient to operate your urban household. Your wife must work outside the home. The services she used to render to you and your family must be done by someone else. Restaurants cook for you. Maids clean for you. Laundries wash for you. And schools and day care centers watch your children. When your wife performed these services, the services weren't income and the value of the services weren't taxed. But now the value of these services are performed by others, whom you must pay with your income, Now the value of these services to you are taxed, because the income you and your wife use to pay for them is taxed.

Soon, even though you are making more income, you have no money, because all your income is heavily taxed and you are trading your family's time and services for income. You earn income, pay taxes and pay others to provide services to you. You have no time, no money, and no wealth.

And since you have no money or wealth, you can't afford to buy very much of what you need to live. A little land and a house, for example. And so you must borrow the money to buy it. And borrowing money leads to the other great expense of the modern American lifestyle - interest.

Interest
You must pay interest to borrow the money you need that your income won't allow you to have.

If you were able to save the money you use to pay taxes, you would soon have enough money to buy the land without borrowing. But since you have income and pay all the taxes, you must borrow the money to buy the land.

And so, in addition to paying for services and paying high taxes, most "modern people" pay high interest. "Usury", like "totalitarianism", is a term ubiquitous in practice, but seldom spoken. Most States criminalize usury at 25%. [2]

Banks receive money from the Federal Reserve at a discount rate of approximately 5%. They lend money on credit card accounts at 21%, 4% short of usury. The 16% spread is legalized loansharking. Paying such interest impoverishes the individual.

To add insult to injury, tax deductions for interest were recently abolished. Now, you are taxed on every dollar you use to pay interest and every dollar of interest you pay buys you nothing to keep.

So even though this is difficult for most of us, we must live beneath our means (frugality) and save money, so we won't have to borrow money and pay interest.

Those who have already managed to accumulate some money may wish to consider buying real wealth - land, and the right to use it. Land is in increasingly short supply. The federal governemnt has embarked on major land acquisition and land regulation ventures. It is deemed inconsequential that this venture violates the Constitution, which specifically limits Congress's exclusive terrirtorial jurisdiction to 10 square miles plus necessary military bases purchased from consenting States. United States Constitution, Article 1, Section 8.

Governments now own more than 40% of the total land area of the United States. The federal government now wishes to tell its citizens how they may use the remaining 60%. [3]

[2] See, e.g. New York Penal Law §190.40, which makes lending money at over 25% A.P.R. a felony.

[3] Senators Jeffords and Chaffee recently sponsored the "Communinity Character Act" promoting "social equity." See, Henry Lamb and WorldNetDaily, "Thieves in the Night," 12/29/01.