Grokking the LP: "Taxation Is Theft"

I see from my local Libertarian Party newsletter that one of our local activists showed up for our annual April 15th tax protest waving a picket sign, "IS STOLEN MONEY PUT TO GOOD USE?"

If you, the reader, have never spent your time studying books of libertarian theory, you're probably wondering what the picket sign slogan is talking about. Who stole money from whom?

Well, some Libertarian Party members believe that "taxation is theft". Since non-payment of your tax bill will result in your unpaid taxes being taken from you forceably, or, even worse, your doing time in jail, the government, or the democratic majority, is stealing the money from you.

If you were to attend a Libertarian Party meeting, you'd find that at least a few members in the room literally believe that "taxation is theft". To these more anarchist members, the government is the equivalent of a mafia family running a protection scheme in your neighborhood. And they feel it is their duty to oppose every proposed tax increase, no matter what the tax is for.

You'd also meet more moderate Libertarians, like myself, that see partial truth in the "taxation is theft" idea, but think the taxation issue is more complex. The two viewpoints don't conflict as often as you might think, because even the most moderate of Libertarians thinks almost all tax increases proposed these days are an unneeded addition to taxes that are already way too high.

When the two points of view do come into conflict, the "taxation is theft" believers often carry the day. Part of the dynamic there seems to be that Libertarians with hardcore views tend to show up for party meeting more than more moderate Libertarians. I hear that there is a similar dynamic in other third parties. I also suspect that moderate Libertarians have left the party over the years because it has gone too long without electoral success.

I'll say more about the "taxation is theft" idea below, but first I want to point out that the picket sign illustrates one of the biggest barriers to the Libertarian Party's success: a failure to communicate to the average person in his or her own concepts and language. To be successful, Libertarians need to meet non-Libertarians half way. Hell, much more than half way.

The awkwardness of the slogan points out lack of marketing savvy, which is often a problem for Libertarians as well. To be fair, a more typical Libertarian tax protest slogan is "Honk If You Hate Taxes!", which always gets an enthusiastic response from last-minute income tax filers.

(My apologies to local activists if it seems I'm picking on the guy who waved the "stolen money" picket sign. That' not my intention.)

So, is taxation theft? As I said, I think the taxation issue is more complex.

Most of us have bought into the legitimacy of the government by using lots of government services, traveling with United States passports, and voting. It's a pretty shaky analogy to compare the government to a gang of thieves.

It is true that taxpayers are ultimately coerced into hand over their money, often for purposes that they are opposed to. For example, a lot of us in the Bay Area oppose the Iraq War, but we're being forced to foot a big part of the bill. And have little to no influence on the decisions being made in Washington, D.C. It's arguable that this situation constitutes "taxation without representation".

A lot depends on scale. While big Federal spending programs almost always pan out to be wasteful or even downright injurious to general well-being, at the local level, taxes tend to take on more of the characteristics of merely formalizing community efforts. For example, the people of Palo Alto are deeply concerned with the quality of their schools and can almost always be counted on to approve local school taxes. Can the citizens of Palo Alto credibly be said to be oppressing each other any more than, say, a bunch of condominium owners who impose fees on themselves?