‘Slaves to the State’: Senator Slams Income and Property Taxes

Oklahoma State Senator and pastor Dusty Deevers has strongly criticized mandatory income and property taxes, asserting that they infringe upon God-given individual rights and reduce citizens to slaves of the state.

Deevers, claims that these taxes essentially strip individuals of their rightful ownership over their labor and property. “The State is not God. In the compulsory income and property tax, the State claims ownership over the first fruits of people’s work and property, thereby making them wards in custody of the State,” Deevers said in a post on X.

He contends this has led to a distorted relationship between individuals and the state. “Before people support their own life and their family, they must make a forced contribution to the State,” Deevers explained. “Man is not a dependent of the State. Man is not created by the State. Man is not sustained by the State. Man does not have his salvation or rights from the State.”

In a speech delivered in the Oklahoma State Senate chamber in 2024, Deevers further emphasized his stance, citing the Constitution’s affirmation of rights as “God-given.” He asserted, “When the state forces people to pay a compulsory tax on their income and come and get them if they don’t, the people are therefore slaves to that state.”

Deevers argues that income and property taxes force individuals into a relationship of dependence on the government, undermining the concept of personal autonomy. “Taxing people’s work is making their work and their wages accountable and subject first to the state, thus making them wards or in custody of the state,” he said. “If the state can punish you for giving the first fruits of your labors, then you, by consequence, have an inherently dependent relationship with the state.”

The senator emphasized the distinction between modern taxation and older systems, such as the historic head tax. He argues that under such a system, individuals are more directly accountable to the state, weakening the bond between personal labor and individual ownership.

At the heart of Deevers’ argument is a belief in the divine right to private property. “God gives man, not government, stewardship over his life and property,” he said. “God grants people the right to property that’s private and private ownership, which includes a man’s fruit of his labors and income.”

Deevers concluded by reaffirming his belief that taxation, as currently structured, infringes upon the rights of individuals. “Therefore, no institution or person shall violate this right over against an innocent person,” he stated. “Property and assets and income belong first to individuals, not to the society or the government.”

The senator’s comments are likely to fuel ongoing debates about the nature of taxation, the role of government, and the relationship between individuals and the state.

The State is not God. In the compulsory income and property tax, the State claims ownership over the first fruits of people’s work and property, thereby making them wards in custody of the State.

Meaning: Before people support their own life and their family, they must make a… pic.twitter.com/2u5NQEKofq
— Dusty Deevers (@DustyDeevers) October 23, 2024

The U.S. income tax was introduced by the 16th Amendment in 1913. Initially, it affected less than 1% of Americans but has grown to become a major source of government revenue. Further, the advent of paycheck withholding in 1943 made the tax burden less visible and potentially more acceptable to the public.

In the United Kingdom, income tax was first introduced in 1799 by Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger to fund the Napoleonic Wars. However, it was a temporary measure, and it was abolished after the wars ended in 1816.

In 1842, income tax was reintroduced by Chancellor of the Exchequer Sir Robert Peel, primarily as a means to address the government’s growing budget deficit. It was made permanent in the following decades, with significant reforms occurring over the years, including the introduction of progressive tax rates in the late 19th century.

The modern income tax system, as we know it today, was fully developed by the early 20th century.

Just two years after the U.S.’s introduction of income tax, Australia followed suit, introducing federal income tax in 1915 to help fund World War I, supplementing the income taxes already levied by individual states.

In 1942, during World War II, the Commonwealth government centralized income tax collection, effectively ending state income taxes by offering financial grants to states that agreed not to reintroduce them. Since then, income tax has been collected exclusively at the federal level.

The frustration of taxpaying citizens is captured in a one-minute viral video we’ve previously shared. In the clip, a laborer expresses his anger over the tax system, describing how he puts in long hours daily with no government assistance—only to see a large chunk of his hard-earned paycheck taken away.

“I get up at 4:45 in the morning and I don’t see a sign of the government anywhere,” he said. “Every single day for eight and a half hours I exchange my time for labor. I don’t see the government anywhere except for on Thursdays. Thursdays, I get my paycheck. That’s when the government shows up. That’s when they feel they’re entitled to split half of the currency I made for trading my time, my skills, my labor.

“This goes on throughout the year where I’m responsible to keep records of all of this. At the end of the year, it’s my responsibility to prepare all that documentation for them to review it. They then determine if their cut was large enough. If I don’t meet their schedule, I face fines or fees or the threat of being locked up in one of their cells.”