Is Taxation Theft?

I said I was done there, and I'm sticking to my guns, but I could swear Myca was trying to bait me with that post.

You could comments at The Alas Debate Annex. This is the less-heavily-moderated mirror forum for debating issues arising on Alas, a Blog.

Come on -- let's see how floppy that gun of yours is. :-)

It's not really about the moderation&emdash;as obnoxious as it can be at times&emdash;it's more about wanting to waste less time, or at least waste it in more enjoyable ways.

Come on -- let's see how floppy that gun of yours is.

Them's fightin' words.

That said, I will say that I think it's cute that leftists talk about coercion when the relative alternative is finding a new job, but then go on to say that taxes are voluntary.

Fine, don’t go over there.

Here’s my argument: I want to maximize my autonomy. Does taxation impair my ability to do so? That is unclear to me.

Many things intrude upon my autonomy, siphoning off resources that I might prefer to use for other purposes. For example, if I fail to surrender whatever resources are required to pay my taxes, I may be incarcerated and my assets may be seized. For another example, if I fail to surrender whatever resources are required to secure food, water, shelter, health, physical security, etc., I die.

I want to structure society to minimize the resources I must surrender for these purposes. It is not clear to me that minimizing taxes – without regard to these other concerns – achieves that end.

Conceptually, some taxes may reduce the amount of resources required to secure food, water, shelter, health, physical security, etc.

Conceptually, other taxes (say, to finance education) may promote growth in a manner that more than offsets their costs, thereby having the net effect of reducing the amount of taxes I must pay in the long run.

In brief, I don’t see the analytical benefits of distinguishing between the cost I must bear to secure food, water, shelter, health, physical security, etc., and the costs I must bear for taxes. I can regard them both as a form of theft, or I can regard neither. But I see little use in stigmatizing one while ignoring the other.

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I can regard an apple as a pear, or as a sailboat. It neither makes it a pear nor a sailboat. Taxes really aren't.best rifles

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Yes, I believe it is theft if you don't feel that your taxes is going nowhere, and fast. But if I do enjoy the basic privilege that resulted to taxation, then it is not. So, my position here is it depends on the situation. - Mario Romano

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Yes, I believe it is theft if you don't feel that your taxes is going nowhere, and fast. But if I do enjoy the basic privilege that resulted to taxation, then it is not. So, my position here is it depends on the situation.