Slavery without the Chains

This is a modern day non-fiction.

Suppose you had a field to plant and you toiled hard and long to produce a good harvest and the government taxes you a portion like 15% of the harvest to provide essential services like roads, water and electricity.

Suddenly there is a plague and part of the land in the country is blighted and cannot be used for 25 years - the time it will take to rejuvenate the soil.

The government asks your assistance and you agree to help by providing extra 30% of your harvest above the usual rate of 15% for the next 25 years.

Instead of using the 30% extracted to improve the condition of the blighted lands, the government uses the resources to build huge monuments, meaningless structures and other useless projects.

Some people became lazy and even forget their basic survival skills like fishing and hunting as the government has lulled them into a sense of complacency with the easy money.

On the 24th year, the government reveals that the 30% extra tax has not achieved the desired results and they want to extend the program by another 20 years.

Meanwhile as the people who have been busy enjoying themselves have been procreating on an unprecedented scale. People from afar were also attracted by the generous handouts and their numbers increased.

Some members in the government now propose that a more suitable target would be 60% extra taxes on the productive farmer.

If you are that productive farmer, what would you do?


http://sunderlandco-op.on.ca/media/crops_field_02.jpg