Re:Bitcoin Blows Past $9,000
by TheCoelacanth on Sunday November 26, 2017 @05:43PM
(#15783517)
> You gonna force people to buy dollars at gunpoint?
It's only a slight exaggeration to describe taxes like that. There are huge amounts of assets held under the jurisdiction of the US government (probably somewhere north of $100 trillion[1]) and a huge number of people who live under the jurisdiction of the US government (>300 million). If the owners of those assets or the people living in the US don't pay their tax bills, the government can resort to seizing their property to cover the tax bill or jailing the person who didn't pay. If they don't cooperate with that action, the government can send people with guns to force them to comply. Effectively, everyone who lives in or owns property in the US is forced to acquire dollars to pay their tax bill.
It's only a slight exaggeration to describe taxes like that. There are huge amounts of assets held under the jurisdiction of the US government (probably somewhere north of $100 trillion[1]) and a huge number of people who live under the jurisdiction of the US government (>300 million). If the owners of those assets or the people living in the US don't pay their tax bills, the government can resort to seizing their property to cover the tax bill or jailing the person who didn't pay. If they don't cooperate with that action, the government can send people with guns to force them to comply. Effectively, everyone who lives in or owns property in the US is forced to acquire dollars to pay their tax bill.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_position_of_the_Unit...