Taxation as slavery

Criticism of taxes

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "Taxation as slavery" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (October 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

|

The neutrality of this article is disputed. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until conditions to do so are met. (April 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

|

Egyptian peasants seized for non-payment of taxes during the Pyramid Age

Not to be confused with Corvée.

Taxation as slavery is the idea that taxation results in an unfree society in which individuals are forced to work to enrich the government and the recipients of largesse, rather than for their own benefit.

## History

[edit]

Historically, the earliest and most widespread form of taxation was the corvee, which can be traced back to the beginning of civilization. The corvee was state-imposed forced labor on peasants too poor to pay other forms of taxation (labor in ancient Egyptian is a synonym for taxes).[1]

While slavery was a part of life in ancient Egypt, the Mediterranean, Rome, and Greece etc, many slaves received wages. For example, in some of the first records of taxation and slavery from over 5000 years, we see evidence that Egyptian Pharaohs only collected 20% tax on grain harvests,[2] and yet the subjects were considered slaves at this high level of taxation, as is recorded in the book of Genesis 41:34-36

> "Let Pharaoh appoint commissioners over the land to take a fifth of the harvest of Egypt during the seven years of abundance. They should collect all the food of these good years that are coming and store up the grain under the authority of Pharaoh, to be kept in the cities for food."[3]

In her book, American Patriots, journalist Gail Buckley wrote, "In British eyes, the American colonies existed only for the benefit of the mother country, but Americans saw any form of taxation as slavery."[4] Anarcho-capitalists and other right-libertarians often argue taxation is equivalent to slavery.[citation needed] The International Society for Individual Liberty has made this claim,[5] as has Bureaucrash,[6] referring to Social Security as "social slavery."[7]

George Mason University professor Thomas Rustici uses two hypothetical anecdotes to illustrate his point of view:

> In the first, Sam Slime mugs a person for £50. In the second, Sam Slime votes for a politician who taxes a person in order to redistribute £50 to the "disadvantaged" Slime. Both examples involve the use of force. However, the second scenario is arguably worse, since through the state, Slime is now empowered to repeatedly take others' money, thus putting them in a condition of slavery."[8]

Leo Tolstoy argued that taxation of labor is one of three stages of slavery (the other two being land slavery and personal slavery).[9]

## See also

[edit]

* Chibalo
* George Fitzhugh
* Income tax
* Political ethics
* Redeemers
* The Road to Serfdom
* Self-ownership
* Serfdom
* Taxation as theft
* Tax noncompliance
* Tax protester history
* Voluntary taxation

## References

[edit]

1. ^ David F. Burg (2004). A World History of Tax Rebellions. Taylor & Francis. pp. vi–viii. ISBN 9780203500897.
2. ^ History of Taxes. Tax Foundation.org. 19 March 2024.
3. ^ Book of Genesis 41:34-36. Holy Bible.
4. ^ Buckley, Gail (May 14, 2002). American Patriots: The Story of Blacks in the Military From the Revolution to Desert Storm. Random House. p. 3.
5. ^ "ISIL -- End Tax Slavery Now". Archived from the original on 2008-05-09. Retrieved 2008-07-29.
6. ^ "Tax Slavery Sucks | Bureaucrash". www.bureaucrash.com. Archived from the original on 30 August 2008. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
7. ^ "Social Slavery | Bureaucrash". Archived from the original on 2008-06-29. Retrieved 2008-07-29.
8. ^ Dr. Thomas Carl Rustici. "George Mason University Economics and Public Policy Problems Economics 309" (PDF).
9. ^ "Leo Tolstoy / On the Land Question and Slavery -- 1909". Archived from the original on 2014-03-05. Retrieved 2013-09-30.

* v
* t
* e

Anarcho-capitalism

Origins|

* Aristotelianism
* Austrian school of economics
* Marginalism
* School of Salamanca
* Subjective theory of value
* Objectivism
* Classical liberalism
* French liberal school
* Homestead principle
* Labor theory of property
* Physiocracy
* Individualist anarchism

Concepts|

* Anti-statism
* Civil rights
* Corporate governance
* Counter-economics
* Decentralization
* Departurism
* Deregulation
* Economic liberalism
* Evictionism
* Free market
* Free-market roads
* Free trade
* Freedom of contract
* Individualism
* Jurisdictional arbitrage
* Laissez-faire
* Land tenure
* Market anarchism
* Natural law
* Non-aggression principle
* Polycentric law
* Private defense (Army (Company / list), Intelligence, Investigator, Police, Security)
* Private property
* Privatization
* Propertarianism
* Property rights
* Right to property
* Self-ownership
* Spontaneous order
* Title-transfer theory of contract
* Voluntaryism

People|

* Bruce L. Benson
* Walter Block
* Bryan Caplan
* Gerard Casey
* Anthony de Jasay
* David D. Friedman
* Hans-Hermann Hoppe
* Michael Huemer
* Stephan Kinsella
* Nick Land
* Michael Malice
* Javier Milei
* Robert P. Murphy
* Wendy McElroy
* Lew Rockwell
* Murray Rothbard
* Joseph Salerno
* Jeffrey Tucker
* Tom Woods

Works|

* The Market for Liberty (1970)
* For a New Liberty (1973)
* The Machinery of Freedom (1973)
* Defending the Undefendable (1976)
* The Ethics of Liberty (1982)
* To Serve and Protect (1998)
* Democracy: The God That Failed (2001)
* The Myth of the Rational Voter (2007)
* The Voluntary City (2002)
* The Problem of Political Authority (2012)

Issues|

* Abortion
* Anarchism
* Capital punishment
* Criticism
* Foreign affairs
* Immigration
* Inheritance
* Intellectual property
* Internal debates
* LGBT rights
* Minarchism
* Objectivism
* Political parties
* Politics
* Theories of law

Related topics|

* Accelerationism
* Agorism
* Paleo-libertarianism
* Right-libertarianism
* Libertarianism in the United States
* Left-libertarianism
* Ultraliberalism

* Category

* v
* t
* e

Tax resistance

Topics|

* Conscientious objection to military taxation
* List of historical acts of tax resistance
* Tax resistance in the United States .
* List of tax resisters

Methods|

* Barter
* Gift economy
* Local currency
* Rebellion
* Self-sufficiency
* Simple living
* Tax avoidance
* Tax evasion
* Unreported employment

Organizations|

* Addiopizzo
* Aide-toi, le ciel t'aidera
* All Britain Anti-Poll Tax Federation
* Anti-Poll Tax Unions
* Association of Real Estate Taxpayers
* Catalunya Diu Prou
* Committee for Non-Violent Action
* Fasci Siciliani
* I Don't Pay Movement
* Irish National Land League
* National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund
* National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee
* Northern California War Tax Resistance
* Pagal Panthis
* Peace churches
* Peacemakers
* Planka.nu
* Women's Tax Resistance League
* Zuism

Media|

* An Act of Conscience
* "Civil Disobedience"
* Clericis laicos
* The Cold War and the Income Tax: A Protest
* "Vyborg Manifesto"

Campaigns
by century|

| 14th|

* Tuchin Revolt
* Harelle
* Peasants' Revolt

|

15th|

* Cornish Rebellion of 1497

16th|

* Croquant rebellions
* Rappenkrieg
* Revolt of the Pitauds

17th|

* Angelets
* Revolt of the papier timbré
* Revolt of the va-nu-pieds
* Salt Tax Revolt in Spain
* Salt Riot in Moscow

18th|

* Boston Tea Party
* Edenton Tea Party
* Fries's Rebellion
* Gaspee affair
* No taxation without representation
* Philadelphia Tea Party
* Revolt of the Comuneros (New Granada)
* Regulator Movement in North Carolina
* Whiskey Rebellion
* White Lotus Rebellion

19th|

* Anti-Rent War
* Dog Tax War
* House Tax Hartal
* Hut Tax War of 1898
* Low Rebellion
* Mejba Revolt
* Rebecca Riots
* Saminism Movement
* Tancament de Caixes
* Tithe War
* Wallachian uprising

20th|

* Agbekoya
* Bambatha Rebellion
* Bardoli Satyagraha
* Beit Sahour
* Bondelswarts affair
* Champaran Satyagraha
* Gordon Kahl
* Kheda Satyagraha
* Irwin Schiff
* Johnson cult
* Mau movement
* Poll Tax Riots
* Poplar Rates Rebellion
* Tupper Saussy
* Turra Coo
* Salt March
* Vedaranyam March
* Women's poll tax repeal movement
* Women's War

21st|

* Anti-austerity movement in Greece
* Anti-Bin Tax Campaign
* Edward and Elaine Brown standoff
* Bonnets Rouges
* Campaign Against Home and Water Taxes
* Movimento Passe Livre
* Movimiento Pos Me Salto
* Yellow vests protests

Related topics|

* Income tax threshold
* Potentially dangerous taxpayer
* Render unto Caesar
* Sovereign citizen / Freeman on the land / Redemption movement
* Tax haven
* Tax inversion
* Tax noncompliance
* Tax protester (arguments / history in the United States)
* Tax riot
* Taxation as slavery
* Taxation as theft

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template