The Rise and Fall of the “Freest Little City in Texas”

[Loren Pechtel]

Actually, that part of it made sense. The intent was to attract business with low taxes. They would make their money off sales tax levied on transactions for others--much like cities love to tax hotel rooms. The problem is the numbers didn't work.

So property taxes are theft but sales taxes are not?

I'm not saying that. What I'm saying is that it is a logical thing as their business model was to make their money off sales tax that mostly applied to outsiders. It's just the tax-somebody-else scheme writ large.

The problem is they didn't want to spend the money upfront needed to make it work.

 

[LordKiran]

So property taxes are theft but sales taxes are not?

I'm not saying that. What I'm saying is that it is a logical thing as their business model was to make their money off sales tax that mostly applied to outsiders. It's just the tax-somebody-else scheme writ large.

The problem is they didn't want to spend the money upfront needed to make it work.

The bigger problem is that their small town has nothing to offer a large scale consumer base, such that they're willing to drive all the way out from the city to get it.

 

[RavenSky]

So property taxes are theft but sales taxes are not?

I'm not saying that. What I'm saying is that it is a logical thing as their business model was to make their money off sales tax that mostly applied to outsiders. It's just the tax-somebody-else scheme writ large.

The problem is they didn't want to spend the money upfront needed to make it work.

My point is that they were trying to create a Libertarian utopia. Libertarians are supposedly against taxes. I want to know why this town seems to think sales taxes are fine while property taxes are not.

 

[LordKiran]

I'm not saying that. What I'm saying is that it is a logical thing as their business model was to make their money off sales tax that mostly applied to outsiders. It's just the tax-somebody-else scheme writ large.

The problem is they didn't want to spend the money upfront needed to make it work.

My point is that they were trying to create a Libertarian utopia. Libertarians are supposedly against taxes. I want to know why this town seems to think sales taxes are fine while property taxes are not.

Don't the Libertines think of taxes as theft? So it's okay to steal from strangers but not from people you know?

 

[RavenSky]

My point is that they were trying to create a Libertarian utopia. Libertarians are supposedly against taxes. I want to know why this town seems to think sales taxes are fine while property taxes are not.

Don't the Libertines think of taxes as theft? So it's okay to steal from strangers but not from people you know?

or, as Zipr noted earlier, they think it is OK to steal from (tax) the poor but not the rich

I find it interesting that they acknowledge they need taxes to provide services. What is the rationalization of "sales taxes" being ok while "property taxes" are bad?

It's ok to tax tourists/outsiders, but not the people living there and actually using the services?

The place doesn't exactly sound like a tourist Mecca. Sounds more like they just prefer taxes that are harder on the lower classes than the upper.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

I'm not saying that. What I'm saying is that it is a logical thing as their business model was to make their money off sales tax that mostly applied to outsiders. It's just the tax-somebody-else scheme writ large.

The problem is they didn't want to spend the money upfront needed to make it work.

The bigger problem is that their small town has nothing to offer a large scale consumer base, such that they're willing to drive all the way out from the city to get it.

I don't think this is a small town out in nowhere, but rather an area adjoining a big city.

 

[LordKiran]

The bigger problem is that their small town has nothing to offer a large scale consumer base, such that they're willing to drive all the way out from the city to get it.

I don't think this is a small town out in nowhere, but rather an area adjoining a big city.

Semantics, it's a town of 1300 people on the outskirts of a major city, fine. But why would those city dwellers take the time and gas to travel outside of the city to go to said town? What could said town possibly have to offer that would justify the time and expense of travel? Maybe if the town were a highly developed upscale kind of place like a mini San Francisco, but that's not the impression I'm left with if they don't even have the basics covered.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

I don't think this is a small town out in nowhere, but rather an area adjoining a big city.

Semantics, it's a town of 1300 people on the outskirts of a major city, fine. But why would those city dwellers take the time and gas to travel outside of the city to go to said town? What could said town possibly have to offer that would justify the time and expense of travel? Maybe if the town were a highly developed upscale kind of place like a mini San Francisco, but that's not the impression I'm left with if they don't even have the basics covered.

What they had to offer is libertarianism. That generates a profit naturally in and of itself. It's only when you add in inefficient parameters to the application of the model (such as having it work in reality) that the concept falls apart.

The concept itself is flawless. It's only the fact that they used these inefficient parameters in the application of said concept that issues occurred, so the failure isn't any sort of indictment of the concepts behind libertarianism.

 

[RavenSky]

Where's Jason.

I'm sure he could explain what happened here.

 

[ZiprHead]

Where's Jason.

I'm sure he could explain what happened here.

They weren't True Libertarians^TM.

 

[J842P]

Where's Jason.

I'm sure he could explain what happened here.

They weren't True Libertarians^TM.

[YOUTUBE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3plmkRy_k5o[/YOUTUBE]