By: Jože Biščak
There is no doubt anymore. State slavery has become the official doctrine of this government. How else can one interpret the recent words of the Prime Minister, who said they would “not allow private capital to dictate the pace of reforms and the future”?
If Miha Kordiš once said he would strip capitalists of their last penny and drive them into the sea with bayonets, Robert Golob’s statement is, in a way, even more chilling. The former member of Levica would, in essence, simply rob entrepreneurs, the wealthy, or anyone who creates added value, and drive them away. These people, wherever they ended up, would manage to land on their feet thanks to their own hard work and continue being productive. But the president of the Freedom Movement (ironically named, considering its totalitarian leanings) proposes something different: he would not outright ban or expel private capital (though he has hinted at that too), but would instead tax it further – effectively enslaving it to work solely for “our own.”
Some may feel the term “(state) slavery” is an exaggeration. But what does it really mean to be enslaved? We picture a Black man working on a cotton plantation for a white master. That stereotypical image is far from the full reality. Those slaves had some limited freedoms – they could move around, speak with others, and sometimes even live on their own. But they were owned by someone and worked for them. From an economic standpoint, these slaves were “capital” that generated “rent” for their owners. This kind of slavery was not necessarily defined by brutally harsh working conditions, but rather by the lack of a voluntary agreement to work. It is similar today: the state (the master), from a position of power and its monopoly on coercion, passes laws determining how much the private individual (the slave) must give. The legalisation of money being taken from private individuals through statutory taxes is the only thing separating a plantation slave from a modern urban one. In other words, it is the lack of freedom to dispose of the fruits of one’s own labour. The higher the taxes on private individuals, the less free a society becomes – and with it, the individual. Entrepreneurs are thus forced to work for the enrichment of the state (the government) and its entourage of beneficiaries and subsidy-receivers, instead of for themselves and their families.
Golob’s statement is an extension of the belief once voiced by former Minister of Public Administration Boris Koprivnikar, who claimed the public sector is the driving force of every state’s development. This is rooted in the leftist agenda that “freedom is overrated” and must therefore be curtailed: the less money remains with the private individual, the more goes to the state, which supposedly knows best how to spend it. But most of the things we now take for granted – those that bring prosperity – were created by private individuals. Without their drive for success and profit, the world would lack many inventions that make life easier. Yet governments aim to take as much as possible from what is left to them. Just think how much you truly have left after paying all taxes, contributions, and fees. Roughly speaking: on average, less than 30 percent. You must consider that you are paying taxes, quasi-taxes, and other imaginary charges on every litre of gasoline, every loaf of bread or bottle of milk, every electricity or utility bill. That, without a doubt, is what we can call state slavery.
It is perverse that, amid such a tax chokehold on net taxpayers, the mainstream media and leftists scream that tax avoidance is theft. Theft from whom? A person earned their income through hard work – surely, they are entitled to it. But these parasites feeding off the state budget claim that the fruits of your labour are not yours and that you are the thief? In reality, it is the state that steals. And the higher the taxes, the more brutal and shameless the theft becomes.
I am not saying that some taxes are not necessary (especially for security, public order, and conflict resolution – the state’s core functions). I am simply saying that today’s taxes are so high that private individuals have effectively become slaves. And these are the very people – entrepreneurs and innovators – who work tirelessly, without weekends or breaks, and with no right to disconnect, who contribute the most to the prosperity and development of the country.
