I'm making an animation called Sex and Taxes. I'll publish it on my YouTube channel for anyone to see, with no adverts. Here's the Twitter announcement.

I believe consent is important

This animation is for others who agree. Using socratic questioning I encourage the viewer to think critically about whether taxation is a consensual arrangement.

Taxation might be theft, but saying as much isn't usually persuasive. Instead the approach in this video is gentle and respectful. After the supporting considerations have been summarised, the conclusion is presented as my opinion, not an unassailable truth. The viewer is given space to make up their own mind.

This project is important enough to me that I'm going to complete it no matter what level of funding we raise, but financial support allows me an uninterrupted period to get deeper into the work, make better decisions, and put the animation online sooner.

While the campaign runs you can claim a reward to support the project using either fiat currency via the Paypal buttons, or with one of the major cryptocurrencies via the Crypto buttons. You can use BTC, BCH, ETH or LTC.

Physical rewards can be claimed, while stocks last, until your local time.

My name is Tomasz

I've been making animations since 2010. My best known are George Ought to Help, Edgar the Exploiter, and You Can Always Leave. Together, my five most popular animations have close to a million views on YouTube.

Now and then I get messages from viewers letting me know that my animations were pivotal in persuading them, or those close to them, that political authority is an unnecessary evil.

If I don't mess it up, I believe Sex and Taxes will resonate with a wider audience still.

Your video planted a seed in my mind that grew into a new consciousness. Your video reached into my world, and got me started. — Private message

The video that caused the paradigm shift for me. Before I saw this, I really thought taxation was a force for good. — Phresh_Prince on George Ought to Help

It's a bit hard to capture the magic of this. There I was, a teenager at one of these home-ed camp festivals, surrounded by free-spirited but very left-wing peers, debating deep into the night in our tents. Then we'd go home and continue the conversations, and I'd send them links to your video(s), and a couple years later they're telling me how they've been reading Mises and asking if I want to go to FEE with them. — Private message

For someone with a learning style such as mine, your videos in particular and some others like them have been crucially formative to me when developing my beliefs. The clear and concise logical progression they lay out helps me remember the nuance of the arguments that normally fades away with time. — x409x12250x

One of the best philosophy videos I've ever seen. — Bryan Caplan, on You Can Always Leave

If you'd just like to be notified when the finished animation is published, skip to the end. Or read on for more details.

Work I've already done on Sex and Taxes

The script is complete. You can read it here.

The narration has been recorded and edited. I commissioned a lady with a fantastic voice to read it. I can't wait for you to hear it.

I'm on version three of the animatic, but I need at least a version four. Maybe more.

The things I still need to do

Finalise the animatic.

Make the animation.

Add sound, possibly music, and mix the audio.

Publish it, and let people know it's online.

Projected costs and timing

Runtime in seconds (known) 264 Hours of animation/design work per runtime second (estimate) 3 Total hours of animation/design work 792 Animation/design costs, @ €20 p/h wage $17,490.53 Reward fulfillment cost $1,061.14 Audio sfx cost $552.10 Subtotal $19,103.76 Patreon support (estimate) - $662.52 Estimated Paypal fees, 2% $389.87 Estimated taxes, 4% $795.99 Campaign target $19,627.11 Production begins November 2019 Animation is published online (assuming funding target is met) November 2020*

* Update 2020-09-17

Domestic changes related to the COVID-19 pandemic have severely impacted my working schedule since March 2020. The target of November 2020 for completion is no longer realistic. Work is continuing on the project, but it's going frustratingly slowly right now. It's difficult to predict when circumstances will change.

Risks and challenges

It's just me working on this, so if I get seriously ill or die the animation won't get finished. My plan though, is to stay healthy for a few decades longer at least. I eat well, work out, and don't have any incriminating information about powerful politicians.

I've successfully completed two crowdfunded animations before. But I'm still not great at predicting working time on this kind of project. It could end up taking longer to make. If I need to take on commissioned work to support myself, or if I strongly feel I need to change creative direction and re-do sections that have already been completed, the whole thing will take longer.

It's possible that I could lose access to platforms where I've published my work in the past. Particularly YouTube. I don't much trust their governance. In case of my being banned there, I'd publish the completed video on whatever looks like the next best platform. In any case I'd be mirroring it to a decentralised service like d.tube.

Anticipated questions

What happens when I click a 'claim' button exactly?

You'll be taken to a checkout page. If you use Paypal, when the transaction is complete you'll be taken to a form to fill in the details I need to fulfill your reward. If you paid with crypto I'll manually email you a link to the correct form once your transfer has been confirmed.

Why doesn't the quantity update after I claim a limited reward?

This is a static webpage. I'll be updating the reward amounts manually throughout the campaign, so there will be a delay before new claims are reflected by the interface.

Can I support the campaign using a cryptocurrency other than BTC, BCH, LTC and ETH?

Maybe. Please email me about it, info@redshiftmedia.com.

What happens if you run out of money before the animation is finished?

I've tried to err on the higher side when estimating the time and funds I need, but if I run out of funds I'll continue working on Sex and Taxes between the commissioned work I'll take on to pay the bills.

How do the benefactor and main sponsor ranks work exactly?

Higher ranks (lower rank numbers) translate to the supporter's name appearing earlier in the relevant credits section. With the main sponsor rewards each supporter has their own 'slide' meaning their name or logo is the only one prominently displayed on screen. The names from the claimed slots are collapsed into a sequence. That means that a person claiming slot four would be displayed as the second name if only two were claimed.

Will the animation be suitable for children to watch?

In the video sex is suggested, not depicted explicitly. My target audience is aged about 20. But I think kids as young as six could watch it if their parents are comfortable answering questions about sex and the state.

What will happen with the excess funds if the campaign exceeds the target?

I'll use excess funds to increase my wage for the project to up to €40 per hour. Funds in excess of that will go towards the preperation work for my next project.