Senate Majority Leader Says Our Tax System is Voluntary

In an interview with Jan Helfeld Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said, and I quote...

"I don't think we force people. In fact quite to the contrary. Our system of government is a voluntary tax system."

When pressed on the definition of voluntary Reid did concede that if you did not pay you taxes you were subject to being forcibly detained. His argument seemed to center on the differences between US and European tax systems. Many European countries have the employers withhold all taxes prior to payment to the citizen, Harry suggests that in the US system the citizens have the flexibility to pay at the time they see fit. This is only partially true. Besides the portions of withholding that employers do withhold from net payment, there are the matching amounts that the employers pay directly to the government. This is matching direct payment is unrealized income, whether the citizen and bureaucrats understand it or not.
Income taxes are not voluntary, they are forcibly removed prior to our holding and in cases where they are not properly paid, penalized by fees, interest and potentially incarceration.
Harry, for not having enough sense to avoid insulting every captive taxpayer, you get the second Davis Cup of this week.

• For those of you familiar with GOPU, the Davis Cup title is named for the classically inappropriate Rob V. Davis.
• This is the second time Harry Reid has been proclaimed reviled winner of this award.