Strategy and Tactics on Taxation

From: S
Sent: Monday, December 18, 2017 10:28 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Income Taxes

Dear Prof. Block, I have been a fan of yours for decades, and I appreciate all the good work you have done.

But I have been struggling with the following issue. The libertarian position is that all taxes are a form of theft; and if possible, we should move forward to get rid of all taxes. Here is the problem. The income tax system keeps increasing the number of people that pay no federal income taxes. Libertarians support that position. But these people that do not pay any taxes are prone to support government programs, because they benefit at no cost to them. Actually, there is a cost to them, but they do not see it. Thus, they keep voting for bigger and more intrusive government. Is it rational for us to support a policy that in effect increases the number of people who have no skin in the game? They will keep voting for more government, and as they increase in volume it will be more difficult to move the country to a more libertarian position.

I remember that the Los Angeles Times used to support any sales tax increase that was proposed. At that time, newspapers, at least in California, were not subject to a sales tax. But the law was changed, and newspapers were subject to the sales tax. After that, the LA Times was more reluctant to support any sales tax increase. Sincerely yours, S

Dear S:

Are you a donor to the MI or LRC? If so, I urge you to increase your level of contribution. If not, I urge you to join me and become a financial supporter. If you are willing in this way to promote Austrian economics and libertarianism, go here: https://mises.org/giving/campaigns/help-us-pack-more-powerful-punch-5

Thanks for your kind words. Yours is a question of strategy and tactics, an empirical issue. Sorry, I have no particular expertise in matters of this sort. My own interests veer more toward the theoretical, the deontological, the principled case for libertarianism, not how best to bring about the free society. My one contribution to this is to note that the two libertarians responsible for the conversation of more people to the freedom banner are Ayn Rand (she didn’t call herself a libertarian, but she was one, in my estimation) and Ron Paul. Yet, in most ways, demeanor, presentation, profession (one was a novelist, the other a politician) they were opposites. From this I draw the conclusion that there is no one best practical way to promote libertarianism, and all libertarians should promote liberty in the manner that best suits their interests, tastes, etc. The only other contribution I can make to your query is to refer you to the writings of Murray Rothbard on this matter of strategy and tactics.

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7:07 pm on December 22, 2017