Two weeks prior, President Donald Trump marked the income tax deadline with a symbolic gesture, ordering McDonald’s food via DoorDash to the White House. This delivery served to spotlight the inaugural year of eliminating taxes on gratuities, a provision incorporated into the 2025 Big Beautiful Bill.
As the original congressional sponsor of legislation proposing No Tax on Tips, Ron Paul expressed satisfaction at witnessing this tax modification become part of the BBB. The legislation encompassed additional favorable tax adjustments, including the elimination of taxes on overtime compensation and the continuation of tax reductions from 2017. However, the bill simultaneously resulted in expanded federal expenditures and increased national debt.
Those who support income taxation implicitly accept the notion that individual rights are government-granted privileges, subject to revocation by those in power. The establishment of income tax represented a departure from the foundational principle that people possess inalienable rights bestowed by their Creator.
Consequently, advocates of natural rights philosophy must oppose income taxation. The people’s rights are similarly violated when the Federal Reserve diminishes the dollar’s value through the concealed inflation tax, thereby reducing citizens’ purchasing power.
The income tax structure’s denial of natural rights becomes evident through withholding procedures, which grant the government priority access to individual earnings. The government may subsequently return a portion of these seized funds through what it terms a refund. Yet genuine refunds occur when businesses reimburse customers dissatisfied with products or services, not when thieves return stolen property.
Withholding originated during the Second World War as a supposedly temporary wartime provision. Nevertheless, this measure persists many decades afterward.
Milton Friedman, while serving as a young economist, contributed to the federal government’s creation of the withholding system. Friedman later became a prominent champion of free-market principles. He also atoned for his withholding work by emerging as a leading voice calling for elimination of compulsory military service.
Compulsory military service represents the most egregious example of governmental rejection of Declaration of Independence principles. The draft empowers the government to compel young men, and potentially young women, into military service where they must kill or risk death in warfare. Despite progressive beliefs to the contrary, draft support cannot be justified by permitting individuals to select between military duty or other forms of mandatory service.
Although the United States currently lacks an active military draft, the necessary framework remains operational through Selective Service registration. A section within this year’s National Defense
Authorization Act enables Selective Service to automatically register males aged 18 through 25. This provision facilitates government capability to restore conscription more readily than ever before.
Income taxation, combined with military conscription and additional forms of compulsory service, conflicts fundamentally with free society principles and warrants opposition from all who cherish liberty and peace. Ronald Reagan articulated a statement applicable to income taxes as well, noting that the draft operates on the premise that children are state property. This assumption has historical precedent, as totalitarian regimes embraced this concept enthusiastically.
The fundamental argument centers on whether citizens exist to serve government or whether government exists to protect citizens’ inherent rights. The income tax system, particularly through withholding mechanisms, establishes a relationship where government maintains primary claim over citizens’ labor and productivity. This arrangement contradicts the philosophical foundation upon which the nation was established.
Furthermore, the capacity to reinstate conscription through
streamlined registration processes demonstrates how temporary government powers become permanent fixtures. What began as emergency wartime measures transform into peacetime institutions that subsequent generations accept without question.
The combination of these policies—taxation of income, monetary debasement through inflation, and potential forced military
service—creates a comprehensive system fundamentally incompatible with individual liberty. Recognition of this incompatibility remains essential for citizens who value constitutional principles and natural rights philosophy.