Taxation Is Theft Billboard Vandalized With Property Tax Receipt

A billboard along Interstate 40 bearing the message 'TAXATION IS THEFT — LEARN MORE AT FREETAXATION.ORG' was vandalized overnight when an unknown individual affixed an enlarged copy of the billboard owner's property tax receipt directly over the word 'THEFT.' The receipt, magnified to approximately 8 by 12 feet and laminated for weather resistance, shows that billboard owner and libertarian activist Clyde Tariff paid $4,237 in property taxes last year on the parcel where the billboard stands. 'This is an act of aggression against my property and my message,' Tariff told reporters at the scene, flanked by two sheriff's deputies he had called to investigate. 'Someone climbed up there with a ladder and industrial adhesive and violated my First Amendment rights. I want them prosecuted to the full extent of the law.' When a reporter noted that law enforcement, courts, and the legal system invoked in his complaint are funded by taxation, Tariff paused for approximately eight seconds before responding: 'That is a different conversation.' The vandal also left a handwritten note at the base of the billboard reading: 'Your billboard is on a road built with tax dollars, visible thanks to publicly funded streetlights, and protected by the fire department you want to privatize. You're welcome.' Tariff has announced plans to install security cameras around the billboard, powered by the publicly maintained electrical grid, and has offered a $500 reward for information leading to the vandal's arrest — payable in Bitcoin to avoid, as he put it, 'feeding the beast.'