At 04:35 PM 5/14/96 -0700, Hal wrote:

I think the intention then is to create "fully anonymous" companies. These would be organizations whose principals and employees are known only by pseudonyms, even to each other. Their only contact is electronic, via an anonymous network. And the employees are paid in anonymous ecash, which they don't pay taxes on since it is unreported income.

These companies produce products or services which they offer for sale across the net. They accept payment in ecash, either from end users or from other companies.

Such companies would be illegal, with everyone involved subject to criminal penalties for tax evasion (and no doubt a myriad of other violations). But because the anonymity is protected cryptographically, the government is helpless to learn the true identities of anyone involved. The companies continue to successfully sell their products and services, advertising and recruiting openly from anonymous sources, and there is nothing the government can do about it.

The goal, obviously, is to make the cost of collection of $1 in taxes sufficiently expensive so that they can't do it economically. But let me draw an analogy: The easiest form of shooting is paper target practice: The target is fixed. More difficult is trap and skeet, where the target moves. More difficult still is hunting, where the target (animals) is at least somewhat intelligent and usually very mobile, as well as camouflaged. This is analogous to encryption. But the most difficult form of shooting is war, in which the "target" can shoot back. If a computer model could be constructed of it, I think you'd find that the most effective way to avoid taxation is to invest money to target those doing the collection. In fact, I'll go so far as to say that it would probably cost less than 10 cents to prevent the collection of $1 worth of tax, and probably closer to a penny. Any analysis of the destruction of the state is incomplete without considering such a scenario. Jim Bell jimbell@pacifier.com