Got an encouraging email from a student at Canisius College in Buffalo where I taught constitutional law last semester (my top student was a Rothbardian):

Hello Mr. Ostrowski,

I’m a daily LewRockwell reader and a student at Canisius College. I thoroughly enjoy your blog posts. Anyway, for my logic class we were assigned a one page paper in which we must make an argument for a significant conclusion. I decided to write a paper proving that private property and property taxes are irreconcilable notions. If you have the time to read it, I would love your feedback.

Thanks,

Ryan Post

Here’s his paper:

A popular belief in this country is the idea that our economy and way of life is based, in large part, on the ownership of private property. However, property taxes, through the very notion inherent in them, make true ownership of much of our most essential property (e.g. lands, houses, and businesses) illusory.

If someone owns a good, that good cannot be taken away from him or her justly without either the consent of the owner or a criminal act (by or against the property-owner). Clearly though, my property can be taken way from me by means of property taxes.

The manner in which Americans actually “own” their homes and lands, therefore, is most comparable to a lease. In this case, the lessor (i.e. Government) dictates the terms of the lease to the lessee by determining the rate of property taxes and sending its agents forth to assess property values. If the dictated terms of this lease are not fulfilled by the lessee, then the property is repossessed by Leviathan, without the consent of the owner or any criminal act on his or her part.

Perhaps the reader will reply that failure to pay property taxes is a crime. Such an assertion only further proves the point, because a crime has only been committed against the State in this case if, in fact, the State is owed compensation from its citizens for the use of its property (i.e. because the State claims ownership of everything without exception and thus dictates the terms of their use). The other, rather disingenuous, objection that might be made against the claims above, is that in a democracy everyone consents to the actions of the government, including the terms it imposes on the leasing of property. Even if this is granted, it still follows that citizens lease their property from the government and do not own it.

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