More taxes = more civilization? Wrong

They said I live in a wonderful country and should pay my taxes with a smile. I tried that but they insisted on cash.
- Mel Narvey.

Those in favor of increasing taxes for their favorite program love to quote Oliver Wendell Homes, "Taxes are the price we pay for civilized society." These words also happen to be carved in stone above the portal of the Internal Revenue Service headquarters in Washington DC.

Taxes are actually the price we pay because we are not entirely civilized. When a politician equates taxation with civilization, the logical follow-on is that more taxation must equal more civilization. Equating taxes with civilization is a 180-degree view of reality.

"Taxes are, in fact, a reflection of our failure to achieve a fully civilized society," observes the Cato Institute's David Boaz in his book The Politics of Freedom. "Civilized people get what they want by voluntary means, through persuasion or exchange. The use of force to acquire property is uncivilized, and the history of civilization is the history of limitations on the use of force."

Beyond simply taxing to civilize us, policy-makers assume the authority to define "civilization." Instead of securing and protecting individual rights, those who equate taxes with civilization use the power of government to tax the liberties they are charged to defend. The irony is that LuvEagle seems to believe that is civilized behavior.