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Stefan Molyneux recently released a video discussing the death of Eric Garner in Staten Island at the hands of NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo. Pantaleo put Garner in a chokehold for allegedly selling untaxed cigarettes on the street, in an effort to arrest him. Garner died as a result, and a grand jury refused to indict officer Pantaleo.
It’s not the first time Molyneux has chimed in the subject. I wrote an article recently blasting him for stating that you have to obey a police officer’s orders, basically no matter what. While the whole unquestioning obedience angle is troubling to me, I do think Stefan has been helpful in mitigating some of the race hysteria surrounding this and other recent headlines.
In the most recent video, Molyneux took this to a whole new level. A caller stated the obvious, that selling untaxed cigarettes is a victimless crime. To which Molyneux responded that the store owners who did collect the taxes, were Eric Garner’s victims. The caller seemed as surprised as many of us were to hear this, since Stefan will be the first one to tell you that taxation is theft.
How avoiding theft amounts to victimizing others escapes logic, but here’s the basic theory Molyneux runs with. The store owners cannot do anything about the taxes. They have to collect and pay them no matter what, so when Eric Garner evades the taxes, and undercuts them on price, he is stealing their business.