Justification of Taxes

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Elizabeth Anderson, over at Left2Right, is on installment number 3 of her Ode to Taxes and the State. She’s subtle, but she’s not a very gifted thinker. I was going to add this brief comment to the blog, but they won’t let me. So, I’ll post this here. I plan to write a point-by-point attack on her specious claims tomorrow.

My commet to Elizabeth:

Glad to see you’re satisfied with your “proofs.” Your arguments are nothing more than mere sentiment and fail to even consider, much less overcome, moral arguments for property rights. Nor do you bother, so far as I can tell, to establish that governments have rights superior to the governed. I see no way one entity can forcibly seize the property of another without either self-evident (i.e., no one bothers to argue about it) moral authority or overwhelming phsyical authority.

_Frankly, your arguments are extremely similar to the Third Reich’s justifications for seizing the homes of Jews. Social insurance. But, in your sentiment, the Nazis had every right to do so: they were freely elected by the people, they faced extraordinary social decay from the penalties of WWI, and they were, after all, the government.
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