The ex-political leader of the Dutch Libertarian Party, Toine Manders, was recently called to a hearing on his involvement in tax evasion. As a jurist, he has helped many of his customers evade taxes to Panama. His practices came to light when the Panama Papers were released.
In this wonderful exposition he clearly explains to the parliamentarian, Renske Lijten from the Dutch Labour Party, why taxation is theft:
Why taxation is a form of theft
The Dutch government, like all other governments, receives its earnings from its citizens through force and threats. Most people believe that:
- Individuals are not allowed to use threats and violence to take money from other individuals;
- Individuals are not allowed to form a gang of bandits and use threats and violence to take money from other individuals. This is what we normally associate with abhorrent maffia practices;
- However, if a bunch of people who claim to be the government uses threats and violence to take people’s money it suddenly becomes fine.
Libertarian anarchists (anarcho-capitalists, voluntaryists, agorists) believe that the above is morally inconsistent. We believe that moral principles should be upheld for all people and all groups of people. We believe that people have the right to choose their own rulers, but don’t have the right to enforce their rulers upon others.
Why taxation is actually worse than theft
Taxation is actually even worse than common thievery. After the government has taken away money from its citizens, it uses this money to continue its oppression.
The abolitionist and legal philosopher, Lysander Spooner, writes in No Treason – The Constitution of no Authority (1870) that:
The government does not, indeed, waylay a man in a lonely place, spring upon him from the road side, and, holding a pistol to his head, proceed to rifle his pockets. But the robbery is none the less a robbery on that account; and it is far more dastardly and shameful.
Unlike in a common robbery, the government claims that its thievery is intended for your own benefit. The highwayman, at least, takes responsibility of the danger and crime of his own act. After he has taken your money, he will leave you alone.
He does not persist in following you on the road, against your will; assuming to be your rightful “sovereign,” on account of the “protection” he affords you. He does not keep “protecting” you, by commanding you to bow down and serve him; by requiring you to do this, and forbidding you to do that; by robbing you of more money as often as he finds it for his interest or pleasure to do so; and by branding you as a rebel, a traitor, and an enemy to your country, and shooting you down without mercy, if you dispute his authority, or resist his demands. He is too much of a gentleman to be guilty of such impostures, and insults, and villanies as these. In short, he does not, in addition to robbing you, attempt to make you either his dupe or his slave.
Reference
Lysander Spooner – No Treason: The Constitution of no Authority (1870)
