The former chairman of the Dutch Libertarian Party, Toine Manders has been kidnapped in Cyprus by the FIOD (the Dutch IRS) and is currently locked away in the Netherlands in complete isolation (aside from his lawyer), in an undisclosed location. He is being held for an extended 90-day period, the charges for which are unknown.
Toine Manders began his career by giving legal advice, through his company HJC, to young Dutch men who wanted to avoid military conscription. He helped roughly 6,000 men avoid being trained as hit-men for the government. The mainstream media jumped on this, calling them ‘refusal yuppies’, who used legal loopholes to evade their duty to the country.
After military conscription was suspended in 1996, Toine’s company moved on to help businesses avoid taxes through strictly legal methods. In the Netherlands, the combined pressures of income tax, VAT, inheritance tax, inflation, and other forms of taxation add up to an astounding 80%, according to calculations by Amsterdam professor Roel Beetsma.
Legal tactics of avoiding taxes are widely used by large corporations like Starbucks, Apple and Ikea, however, Toine Manders had attracted special attention from the government by running controversial ads that stated “Taxation is theft”. The ads went on to say that it was people’s moral duty to pay as little in taxes as possible, as the government is a criminal enterprise. Unable to hire teams of accountants to do it for them, Toine also tried to help smaller business make use of legal tax avoidance methods.
The first signs of government backlash appeared in 2008 when his radio commercial ‘taxation is theft’ was banned by the Reclame Code Commissie (Commercial Ethics Commission) on the basis of being ‘in violation of decency’, along with a defense of the social contract. For fear of losing their licenses or imprisonment, the radio stations were quick to take down the ad.
The next form of government backlash came in 2010 when his company was declared bankrupt on a claim from the tax office. The government ignored limited liability law, piercing the corporate veil, to hold Toine Manders personally responsible for the company’s obligations.
In 2010 the state bestowed further powers upon itself: requiring all trust offices to have a government license to operate, in the name of protecting the people of course. It is suspected that this law is what is now being used to charge Toine, in that he was running a trust office without their license, though the main office was located in Cyprus and not in the Netherlands.
Toine Manders has been the Chair of the Dutch Libertarian party since its founding in 1993 and was the party leader in the 1994 and 2012 elections. He may not have won a seat in parliament, but  he has utilized his campaigns to make strong statements, such as that of using lasers to project of the word ‘bankrupt’ on the Dutch National Bank and throwing fake 14 Euro bills from a helicopter above the Vondelpark in Amsterdam, both of which received a lot of media attention.

The Netherlands has become a country where violent criminals can be free to go the next day, while others are locked away in a psychiatric ward for a year (after having already endured a year in jail) for throwing a tealight holder in frustration at the Queen enroute to a presentation about how taxes were going to be wasted the following year. It has become a country in which Toine Manders, who advocates the non-aggression principle, is at risk of missing the first birthday of his son because he is held in a cage by a monopoly of violence that saw their revenue stream threatened.
Toine Manders should not be confused with the EU parliamentarian with the same name, who has been living off of taxes his whole life.

Join the discussion 17 Comments

  • Astounding! The word of this action against a very moral man must be spread far and wide.

  • DD says:

    I have worked with Mr. Manders as member of the Dutch LP. While differences over political direction saw us part ways, I have always held him in high regard. What is being done to him is an outrage.

  • De Nederlandse Overheid is geheel de weg kwijt. Het beleid van Justitie en veel andere overheidsinstanties werken tegen de wet of maken gebruik/misbruik van wetten die in oorlogstijden door de bezetters zijn toegevoegd aan de wet. Napoleon ontnam burgers veel van hun rechten maar daar weten veel mensen nog steeds niets van. Wat wel is gebeurt toen en ook nu nog is dat na de oorlog/bezetting die toegevoegde wetten uit de wet hadden moeten worden geschreven zodat de betrouwbaarheid van onze wetten onaangetast zouden blijven. Onze regering liet dit na aangezien men misbruik kon maken van deze toegevoegde wetten om zo hun eigen macht en inkomen te vergroten. Tot op heden is er geen enkele eerlijke staatsman opgestaan die zich op basis van de bekende geschiedenis heeft verzet tegen deze vele in het nadeel van het volk zijnde wetten.
    De Nederlandse Overheid heeft haar geloofwaardigheid en geloofwaardigheid geheel verloren door wetten toe te passen die in strijd zijn met de rechten van de mensen van het land, wetten die zelfs in strijd zijn met de originele wetten die door samenzwering aangetast zijn door voor burgers onwenselijke veranderingen. De heer Toine Manders is een aardige, sociale, intelligente maar gedreven man die zijn standpunten met vuur verdedigt ten voordele van zijn medemensen en zichzelf. In ieder beschaafd land zou hij ongestoord zijn mening mogen verwoorden en zijn politieke stellingen mogen samenvoegen in een wettige politieke partij zoals hij ook heeft gedaan. Als hij dan op specifieke strategische momenten uit de roulering genomen wordt dan is dit kiezersbedrog door de Overheid die blijkbaar belang heeft bij negatief resultaat voor de heer Manders of een positief resultaat voor een andere partij. Het is inmenging in het democratisch proces en dat heet dan officieel samenzwering en dat is ook al weer bij wet verboden maar de Overheid doet het en de Politie laat zich wederom misbruiken om de wet te breken door gevolg te geven aan een onwettige en onrechtmatige opdracht van de Overheid om de heer Toine Manders gevangen te zetten terwijl hij geen crimineel is en alleen maar opkomt voor zijn oprechte mening en stelling dat bijvoorbeeld belastingen diefstal zijn, een stelling die ik met hem deel maar voeg er boetes aan toe.
    De politiestaat is veel te duidelijk en hopelijk zijn er bij justitie nog mensen over die IETS geven om de wet zoals die behoort te zijn, eerlijk en billijk…of hebben ze dat ook al uit de wet geschreven?!

  • rob says:

    Dit het toppunt!!!!!
    De overheid is geen zorgzame vader maar een incestueuze viezerik!
    We gaan dit thema toch even benoemen morgen in de uitzending van 20.00-22.00!!!
    Dit gaat iedereen aan!

  • David Macko says:

    As an American I hesitate to interfere in the affairs of other countries. We have a well deserved reputation, earned by the traitors who have misruled our country since 1913, with the exceptions of Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, our last good presidents, for meddling in the affairs of the world which are none of our business.
    However, as a member of the Libertarian Party and Libertarian candidate for the US Congress in the state of Ohio, I have to say that the arrest of a political activist a few weeks before your election is as bad, if not worse, as anything we have happening here. Obama has been shredding our Constitution but, most of the time at least so far, we cannot be held for 90 days without charges.
    If there is anything that American citizens who still believe in restoring our lost liberties can do, please advise us.
    Good luck to Mr. Manders. May he be free soon.
    For Life, Liberty and Peace,
    David Macko
    Libertarian Candidate for Congress Ohio 14th District
    mackoforliberty dot org NEW UNDER CONSTRUCTION
    Vote Libertarian. EDWARD SNOWDEN FOR PRESIDENT IN 2020
    IMPEACH OBAMA, REMOVE HIM FROM OFFICE AND TRY HIM
    AND ALL OTHER TRAITORS FOR TREASON.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KZTDtTkHW8 only 46 sec.

    • Peter Beukelman says:

      Thanks for your support, a USA invasion would not help indeed.
      The elections are local elections so Toine Manders had no direct role, but the imprisonment of the national LP chair does not help the local LP parties. 90 days is the ‘legal maximum’ so they have to come up with something after that.
      Still climate is getting tougher. Last week a law was passed that allows the police to enter a house without a warrant, yet another nail in the coffin of freedom. At some point resentment will increase, but it is more likely that the people will elect a new ruler instead of demanding more freedom. There is a long road ahead to freedom.

  • Peter Beukelman says:

    Update: the severe communication restrictions on Toine have been lifted.

  • Peter Beukelman says:

    Old interview in English with Toine Manders on european tax developments
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Yk1lIvzsZUs

  • Peter Beukelman says:

    Last national elections the dutch LP had about 4163 votes or 0.05%. It’s a very docile gullible nation, if the rulers say jump, the serfs jump. Much like the USA, the last serious uprising was against the decaying (Spanish) empire, who imposed a tax rate of 10% which seemed outrageous and triggered an independence war. In the mean time 10% is laughably.
    I believe the tax rate by the decaying british empire imposed on the americans, was equally small and triggered a struggle for independence, which resulted in a bigger government with higher taxes.

  • Peter Beukelman says:

    Support from Russian libertarians for Toine Manders
    http://libertarian-party.ru/kto-my/in-english/

  • Peter Beukelman says:

    Latest news is that Toine will be released tomorrow may 14th. Thanks for your support.

  • Peter Beukelman says:

    Update:
    Toine’s travel ban has been lifted, but he is still not allowed to work in the financial sector

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