Why then shouldn't we expect that modern governments, in the face of widespread cryptography, will simply revert to more traditional (and brutal) systems such as head taxes, land taxes, travel tolls, etc.?
That's easy to get around- move to another country with another government. I've read here that the US government would try to tax you anyway, but it would be very difficult to collect... You could still anonymously work in the US or some other strong economy, by telecommuting. Also, you can get around head taxes by not letting the government know where you are (easy with the anonymity thing). Travel tolls can be avoided by not traveling (telecommute instead). Land taxes are more difficult, since you kinda need a place to live, so maybe best to move to another country. I'm not advocating tax evasion, I'm just saying it could become possible. There's no guarantee that crypto-anarchy will come to be... I think the crypto genie is permanently out of the bottle (or at least will be soon), but if anonymous digital cash doesn't catch on, crypto anarchy won't be the same. ===================================================================== | Steve Reid - SysAdmin & Pres, EDM Web (http://www.edmweb.com/) | | Email: steve@edmweb.com Home Page: http://www.edmweb.com/steve/ | | PGP Fingerprint: 11 C8 9D 1C D6 72 87 E6 8C 09 EC 52 44 3F 88 30 | | -- Disclaimer: JMHO, YMMV, IANAL. -- | ===================================================================:)