Comment by Ampersander

16 hours ago

This forum is full of libertarians that might view bribes and taxes as synonyms.

As a libertarian, they are not even close to being the same. A bribe is generally optional where you can opt out of the transaction. Taxes are a racket.

  • So if you get stopped by the police in a bribe-affine country and they make clear you can either pay some money or they will take you to jail even though you did nothing wrong, is that a tax or a bribe?

    • It's blackmail/extortion. The act of paying the money is the bribe. Here is the Wikipedia definition.

      > Bribery is the corrupt solicitation, payment, or acceptance of a private favor (a bribe) in exchange for official action.[1][2] The purpose of a bribe is to influence the actions of the recipient, a person in charge of an official duty, to act contrary to their duty and the known rules of honesty and integrity.

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