Let us consider an idea that perhaps isn’t really worthy of consideration, the idea that taxation is theft. This is a common idea in certain libertarian political philosophies, so I don’t really need to reinvent the wheel. I found a perfectly good rebuttal upon a basic search.
The article suggests three different ways to interpret the claim that taxation is theft:
- Theft is a legal crime, and so is taxation.
- Taxation is morally wrong for the same reasons that theft is morally wrong.
- Taxation is pragmatically bad for the same reasons that theft is pragmatically bad–e.g. claiming it depresses GDP.
I skimmed the comments to see if there were any other interpretations, and concluded we should add one more:
4. Taxation resembles theft in that there is an involuntary exchange of wealth under threat of force.