March 21st marks the 50th anniversary of taxation abolition in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), making it the first state in history to do so.
This move, enacted by the Supreme People’s Assembly on March 21st, 1974, completely eliminated the tax system, which had been gradually phased out since the mid-1960s.
President Kim Il Sung emphasized that this decision aligned with the socialist system’s principles and liberated the working class from exploitation.
Unlike in capitalist nations, where taxes continuously rise, DPRK’s unique socialist approach prioritized people’s welfare by eliminating taxation entirely. This bold step underscores the DPRK’s commitment to socialism.
What boggles my mind is that most people can only imagine the end of the world and not an alternative to capitalism. Have people not learned to tie their shoes in different ways? Or multiplication? Or organizing clubs? In a world where there’s a variety of possibilities, surely we can organize a society in different ways, some ways yielding better standards of living for all of humanity instead of a few. Removing the constraints of a capitalist, imperialist system greatly expands the options to restructure the economy, especially with the 100s of years of Marxist research and technological advances at our disposal.
Spooky scary socialism isn’t so scary when you realize how it comes to humane conclusions that appear “common sense”, but it’s a bit depressing seeing many people get so defensive because they don’t want to work for their fellow man without exploitation and are comfortable with the status quo, no matter how sickening it is.