Taxes are Theft: How Many Men?

To explain how taxes are theft I like to point out that the line that separates taxation and thievery is vague and completely arbitrary. To illustrate this I use an analogy that begins with simple and obvious theft and then, by adding variables and small changes to the story, make the theft resemble taxation in order to find the line between the two. This is often called the "How many men?" argument and my version of it is as follows.

After each change I make, answer this question; "Does that make it right?".

A criminal physically attacks you and takes your wallet with $500 inside.


1.Let's say that he doesn't attack you but demands the money or will use physical violence if you resist him.

2.Let's say that there are 3 other people supporting the criminal and they voted for him to mug you.

3.Let's say that there are 10 or 100 people supporting the criminal but now they give you a vote but you can't quite convince enough people to vote against mugging you.

4.Let's say that the criminal won't keep all your money but donate some to his supporters and to a local soup kitchen.

5.Let's say that they give $5 of your money back along a free bowl of soup.

Do any of these adjustments make the criminal right in stealing your money? He is now no longer using physical violence (as long as you pay). Some of it is going to a good cause. You get some benefit from the money stolen. Does that make it right?

6.What if instead of one criminal it is a group of criminals and instead of 10 or 100 supporters it was 100 thousand or 10 million?

7.What if the criminals did not demand money face to face but sent you a bill for the amount they want to steal and then use violence only if you refuse to pay?

8.What if the criminals don't directly do the violence but hire mercenaries to go and use violence to collect the money from you?

9.What if, when you refuse to pay, the mercenaries kidnap you and put you in a cage in lieu of physical violence (that is unless you resist being kidnapped in which case they will hurt or kill you)?

10.What if the criminals had fancy titles like judge, or congressman, or senator, or president and the mercenaries were called something like police, or FBI, or IRS?

Do these changes make the theft right and at what point does this cease to be theft and become taxation? How many men need to be involved in this larcenous conspiracy for it to no longer be considered a crime? How many fancy titles and euphemisms need to be used to make this such theft legitimate?



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