The present tax to pay for the road deprives me of bread. It steals my bread. This tax is a robbery. Today's taxes that put me on rations amidst plenty are not in conformity with reality. They rob me of the private goods that I would obtain with the money I must use for taxes.

by Gilberte Côté-Mercier

Present taxes are a robbery. Present taxes must be abolished. You have heard the "White Berets" repeat these two sentences many a time. You might believe that they are but pure propaganda slogans used to strike the imagination!

A businessman who stopped by the "Michael" Office, told us as he left our house: "I am very happy with my visit here. I learnt something that I did not know : that the present taxes are truly a robbery, that they must disappear and can disappear. I did believe that your posters only expressed a slogan. But I now see that it is a truth established on solid arguments."

A young student of the University of Ottawa attended one of our meetings. He declared that he was delighted to finally understand how public works could be financed without taxes by a provincial credit system, and how the withdrawal and issuing of money would be done by a Social Credit financial system.

Present taxes are a robbery. We will repeat this with conviction and obstinacy until they are abolished. For they are the ruin of our families and of society.

The income tax, with its intolerable reports, is a nightmare for all. The property tax and school taxes that constantly increase, that chase the families from their homes, snatch farms and enterprises from the hands of those who built them; the school taxes of the small towns have already chased towards the cities the heirs of the country's founders.

The federal tax on production causes bookkeeping, reports and inquiries for our businessmen. The Pension Board, another tax disguised under a false name, adds to the already intolerable burden of taxation. And this legalized robbery keeps up increasing. It is a robbery accomplished by the law itself — the government which first of all is supposed to be the protector of the people against all invaders, robbers and others.

All of these taxes must disappear without delay. The most clever schemes of our governments will be nothing but vain gestures as long as the present tax system is not abolished. Our governments act as protectors of the robbers. They are their loyal lackeys.

Questions and answers

Present taxes are a robbery. In order to understand this, let us proceed by questions and answers.

Q. — Why taxes?

A. — To pay for public services, roads, firemen, etc.

Q. — What are roads built with?

A. — With material goods, such as sand, cement, etc., and with labour.

Q. — What do the men who build the road live on?

A. — On material goods, such as bread, housing, etc.

Q. — What is required to produce these material goods?

A. — Other material goods and labour are required. There are public services, like roads, that require material goods and labour. And there are private services, like bread, that require material goods and labour. Public and private services: two sectors, the public and private one. These two sectors require material goods and labour.

The population possesses money, purchasing power, to pay for the services of both sectors, public and private, the road and the daily bread.

Q. — And what are taxes?

A. — They are a part of the population's money subtracted from the private sector to pass to the public sector, subtracted from the daily bread to pass to the road. The government wants me to do without bread in order to pay for the road.

Q. — But is it necessary for me to do without bread in order to pay for the road?

A. — Not at all. There will be just as much bread for sale if we build a road, during the construction of the road and after its construction. There will be just as much bread for sale. So there is no reason for me to do without bread since the baker will not change its rate of bread production and will not diminish the quantity of produced bread. If it were the baker who was to build the road, I would lose my baker and my bread. But no, the baker continues to bake bread. So why should I do without bread? The tax to pay for the road deprives me of bread. This tax is a robbery. It steals my bread.

As long as the production of the private sector continues at the same rate, the government must not take a single penny from my pocket to pay for the production of the public sector. I must keep all of my purchasing power for the private goods and services as long as private services are not reduced. And the construction of the road does not reduce them. On the contrary, the construction of the road is good for business, and even brings about an increase in the production of the private sector.

If the baker stopped baking bread because a road is being built, then a tax could be levied to take away my purchasing power for bread and use it to pay for the road. But today's taxes, which deprive me amidst plenty, are not in conformity with reality. They are illegal. They are a robbery. They rob me of the private goods that I would obtain with the money that I must give for taxes.

New money

Q. — But, then, how do you want the government to pay for its road?

A. — The government must pay for its road with new money, created by a Credit Office, at the same time as the road is created. The engineers and workers build the road. The financiers must create the credit, the money to pay for the road, as the road is built. They must create as much money as required. Brand new money, since it is a new road. Money taken from nowhere, neither in the taxpayers' pockets nor elsewhere. Money specially created for the road. For a new production, newly-created money. New money for a new road. As you can see, the road is not paid for with taxes, but with new credit, since credit is money.

Q. — Yes, but if the Credit Office thus always creates new money for all public services, there will be a lot of new money! Will this not cause inflation?

A. — The Credit Office must create money for the production that is being made, and destroy money for consumption and wear. This National Credit Office keeps the national accounts. It keeps the accounts of production and consumption, which is made up of the use of material goods and labour, and the wear of things. The Credit Office creates money for production and destroys it for consumption. It creates it as production is made, and destroys it as production is consumed. In this manner, there is a constant balance between the prices of goods and purchasing power.

With this balance, individuals are provided with all the necessary money to pay for all private and public services.

Q. — Do you mean the Credit Office must also create the money for private production?

A. — Most certainly. The Credit Office must create the money for all production, private and public. The money created for private production is distributed to individuals through three channels: finance without interest to private enterprises; the discount on prices, given to buyers; and the dividend to all citizens. And the money created for public produc­tion is handed to the governments for public services. This is how taxes disappear. Also disappearing is the largest part of the taxes, the part that is presently used to pay the interest on public loans and to repay the borrowed principal. The national debt will no longer exist, and consequently, there will be no more need to service that debt. Taxes will be lowered accordingly.

Q. — But, then, do you mean there will still be some taxes to pay?

A. — Services like garbage collection and firemen will still be paid for by the taxpayers. But the Credit Office must distribute to the individuals all the required money to pay for all public and private services. Services must be paid for with money. Money is an accounting system. Accounting must never lack in front of offered services. There are firemen, men who are ready to put out fires. The wealth is our firemen. True wealth, real wealth. The Credit Office must include in its account­ing this real wealth represented by our firemen. And the Credit Office must make sure that the population has the required money to pay the firemen. The same for the private sector. There is as much butter for sale as the population can consume. Butter is the true wealth, the real wealth. The financial wealth, the money-wealth, is only an accounting. The National Credit Office must make sure that the individ­uals do not lack money to pay for butter.

The part played by the Credit Office is to supply money to the country, just as the farmers' part is to supply food to the country. If the farmers do not need a lot of persuading to do their part, why should the Credit Office ? Today, the Credit Office is not a national office but an office of private individuals. It is the banks, which exist for the profit of the bankers; instead of a true Credit Office, well kept, that would exist for the whole population. It would be a national or a provincial Credit Office: A Quebec Credit Office, an Ontario Credit Office, etc.

Q. — So we must absolutely have a National or Provincial Credit Office!

A. — Certainly. Without a National Credit Office, it is anarchy in the money system, in our family budgets and in the governments' budgets. Taxes are a robbery. The whole present financial system is a robbery from A to Z. This is well explained in the "Michael" Journal. And we have good booklets that throw light on the great wonder of the technique of Social Credit, and on the scandalous swindle of the present financial system and its taxes.

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