Portrait of Frank Chodorov

Frank Chodorov argues that taxation is an act of coercion and if pushed to its logical limits will result in Socialism (1946)

Found in: Fugitive Essays: Selected Writings of Frank Chodorov

Frank Chodorov argues that taxation is an act of coercion which violates individual rights to property and, if pushed to its logical limits, will result in the ownership of all production and property in the hands of the state, i.e. Socialism:

Taxation

All this argument, however, is a concession to the obfuscation with which custom, law, and sophistry have covered up the true character of taxation. There cannot be a good tax, or a just one; therefore, every tax rests its case on political power. And the power behind every levy fattens on its collections, while the power of the individual is commensurately weakened. The ultimate of the progressive process of taxation is the absorption of all production by the state—which is the ideal of socialism.