.
| [Reprinted from: The
Freeman, 1946] |
When you unmask it, ... you see that taxation is highwaymanry [highway
robbery] made respectable by custom, thievery made moral by law; there
isn't a decent thing to be said for it, as to origin, principle or its
effects on the social order. Man's adjustment to this iniquity has
permitted its force to gain momentum like an unopposed crime wave, and
the resulting social devastation is what the socialists have long
predicted and prayed for ...
In principle this income tax, as the founders of the Constitution
realized, is more vicious than any other, for it is a direct attack on
the sanctity of private property. ... If you follow through on the
principle involved, you come to the conclusion that the individual's
right to property is a temporary and revocable stewardship. The
Jeffersonian ideal of inalienable rights is liquidated, and substituted
for it is the Marxist concept of state supremacy.
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