The Libertarian Forum, edited by Murray N. Rothbard; April 15, 1969.  Just a tidbit for this post in my ongoing review of this compilation.

April 15, that dread Income Tax day, is around again, and gives us a chance to ruminate on the nature of taxes and of the government itself.

The first great lesson to learn about taxation is that taxation is simply robbery. No more and no less.

This who claim that taxation is, in some mystical sense, really “voluntary” should have no qualms about getting rid of that vital feature of the law which says that failure to pay one’s taxes is criminal and subject to appropriate penalty.

Rothbard asks: does anyone really take this idea seriously?

Time to buy old US gold coins

Then why don’t we try it for a few years, or a few decades, and find out?

Conclusion

I am no martyr; nor, it seems, was Rothbard.  There have been several individual martyrs on this issue; what has been achieved via this method?

In any case, this isn’t the point.  Taxation is robbery; it is not voluntary.  If you don’t believe this, try to internalize Rothbard’s thought experiment.  If you still don’t believe it…well, you take the next step!

Reprinted with permission from Bionic Mosquito.

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