A major secret
of successful taxation is to make it painless. To do this, taxes
must be hidden. Governments tax output up the entire supply chain.
The sellers collect the tax. The public does not perceive this.
We need sellers
to blow the whistle. "The government forces us to be tax collectors."
This British
video gets this idea across: we are taxed all day. It does not get
across the idea that this is done through value-added taxes on production,
all along the supply chain.
Persuasion
is more than numbers and graphs. We need video and audio to focus
on the central issue and drive it into the viewer's mind. Humor
does this.
The Web makes
it possible to get out a message without paying for air time. Word
of mouse takes over.
Creative people
should put their minds to work on the tax issue. Once a video is
online, anti-tax organizations can promote them. Or maybe they can
fund an upscale version. Here is a really choice one. It was expensive
to produce.
Some Canadians
also get it, as you will see.
Sometimes low
budget beats upscale. Example: a Republican lady who decided to
get out the message on Obama used a super-cheap webcam to produce
a corker. So far, it has had over 700,000 hits. She rides the black
welfare queen stereotype like someone in the World Rodeo League.
Note: subtlety is not part of bronco-riding. Take
a look (no embed option).
I end with
a video that is not deliberately a spoof. It might as well be.
The public
needs to lose faith in the wisdom of the governments that impose
taxes. Humor is a way to undermine this faith. It reminds voters
that they are carrying a lot of dead weight. It does not get better
over time. It gets worse.