---

Attacking the Rich

...Put it this way: At what point would Bill Gates be unfairly taxed? Would it be unfair to take 50, 75, 90 per cent of his earnings? How do you decide?

You can’t. Once you agree that the state has a right to force people to pay it, there is no limit. The real question is this: Where does the state get the right to force Bill Gates to pay it a single dime?

...Taxation is wrong in principle. Taxes are moneys forcibly taken from some people for the benefit of other people. The pretense that the benefits are equally shared by everyone — “public goods” — won’t bear analysis. It’s merely a ruse to make it sound as if the state is impartially benevolent. Does this describe any politician you know of? Doesn’t real-world politics mean promising special treatment to specific interests in return for political support? Favoritism is inseparable from politics.

To complain that a free economy favors the rich is like complaining that free speech favors the eloquent. The Republican argument that lower taxes will “stimulate the economy” is true but irrelevant. The real case for lowering taxes — or better yet, abolishing taxes altogether — is that it will free the individual. “The economy” should be the aggregate of free exchanges, not something governed or manipulated by the power of the state.

But how could we even have a state without taxes? The answer is that we couldn’t — at least not the all-powerful kind of state we have now, which totally depends on taking enormous quantities of private wealth. That in itself is an excellent reason for getting rid of the taxing power. ...