
For most of us who have lived all our lives in one of the many high-tax nations of the world, we simply take it for granted, without ever questioning the moral justifiability of taxation. In the US today, almost 40% of your income can be legally seized by the state in the name of taxation. The situation is as, if not more, bleak in many other developed first-world nations.
Proponents of taxation argue that it is a necessary aspect of funding the country, providing to the needy, creating social equality, infrastructure, etc. However, if one puts all these theories aside and looks at what taxation really is, it is easy to see why some political philosophers and libertarians have held the view that “taxation is theft”.