Dracula and the IRS
October 30, 2003
Count Dracula’s reputation as a blood-sucking vampire is based more on fact than most people realize. The real Count Dracula was a prince known as Vlad the Impailer. He was a politician, in other words. He earned his nickname by beheading what the IRS would call “tax cheats” and impailing their heads on posts in order to scare the s_ _ _ out of other would-be “cheats.”
There’s a story about Vlad today on AOL. It says that his descendants still live. Question: Is it just a coincidence that today — the day before Halloween — the Commissioner of the IRS made a very threatening public speech in which he promised to run down “tax cheats” no matter who they are, big or small?!
Dr. Thomas DiLorenzo [send him mail] is president of the Mises Institute. He is a former professor of economics at Loyola University Maryland and a longtime member of the senior faculty of the Mises Institute. He is the author or co-author of eighteen books including The Real Lincoln; How Capitalism Saved America; Lincoln Unmasked; Hamilton's Curse; Organized Crime: The Unvarnished Truth About Government; The Problem with Socialism; and The Politically-Incorrect Guide to Economics.
It's not funny