A system based on “voluntary compliance”—where people are expected to self-report but face no prior compulsion—crosses into being effectively mandatory the moment failure to comply triggers coercive penalties such as fines, property seizure, or imprisonment. At that point, the choice to participate is no longer truly free; people comply to avoid punishment, not out of genuine voluntariness. True voluntariness requires the realistic option to opt out without losing liberty or property. When the state enforces participation through threat of force, the “voluntary” label describes only the mechanism (self-assessment) while masking the underlying obligation. In practice, systems like modern income taxation, often described as relying on voluntary compliance, are mandatory because non-reporting leads to severe sanctions. The distinction collapses entirely once coercion ensures near-universal participation.
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