A New Way to Look at Taxes

Almost twenty years ago economist Mark Skousen penned a little essay, Persuasion Versus Force, that has the power to change how we look at taxation forever.

One early paragraph sets the stage:

“Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes once said, “˜Taxation is the price we pay for civilization.’ But isn’t the opposite really the case? Taxation is the price we pay for failing to build a civilized society. The higher the tax level, the greater the failure. A centrally planned totalitarian state represents a complete defeat for the civilized world, while a totally voluntary society represents its ultimate success.”

On this Tax Day, read the entire essay and you may just come away with a more profound understanding of what this day, and the Tea Party protests are really all about.

Persuasion Versus Force


Steve Buckstein is Senior Policy Analyst and founder of Cascade Policy Institute, a Portland-based think tank.

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