“Taxation is theft” is one of the most popular libertarian sayings. Honestly, I do not know why it’s taken me so long to write about it.
The “taxation is theft” argument follows this syllogism:
Theft is when you take something that belongs to someone else without their consent
Taxation is when the state takes something (money) from someone (taxpayers) without their consent
Therefore, taxation is theft
Defenders of taxation will usually make three basic arguments as to why taxation is not theft:
The taxpayer’s money belongs to the state (they may not argue this outright, but it is the inevitable conclusion of their logic).
The social contract argument; taxpayers consent to taxation when they live in the area governed by the state or by some mystic process never fully explained.
They rationalize the fact that taxation seizes private property against the consent of the owner through the “ends justifies the means” argument. To put it succinctly, they believe “taxation is the price we pay for civilization.”
However, these assertions suffer from several problems. First, the definition of “consent” applied to the taxpayer is not and would not be accepted under any other circumstances. Try applying their concept of “consent” to dating and sex. Second, arguing that taxpayers’ money belongs to the state simply raises a whole host of questions, chief of which is this: If the fruits of a man’s labor belong to the state, how is he not at a fundamental level a slave?
Third, whether taxation results in social utility has nothing to do with the coercive nature of the system. All that means is that this form of theft produces good. That does mean the taxpayer has a choice in the matter. They may have some influence to the specifics of how they are taxed, but their direct consent is not required. If enough people decide to tax that individual, or the entire community, the person cannot refuse.
Works cited: https://anarchistnotebook.com/2017/01/16/why-taxation-is-theft/
