Taxation Is Theft

There are those - and by "those" I mean "the vast majority of people" - who do not believe that taxation is theft.  The minority of those people who have actually encountered the idea that taxation may be theft left the idea quickly in the dust with such euphemisms as "taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society."  In order to accept this statement one must first ignore the fact that prices emerge from voluntary exchange, a blatant impossibility with a government decree such as the tax level.  One must then proceed to accept an unspoken definition for "society", including such important aspects as who comprises it, how its will is to be determined and how that will should be executed.  This is absolutely critical as it is clearly "society" who will be determining the constraints of what is "civilized", and there will be no shortage of highly energetic do-gooders who will be happy to interprets society's will for the good of civilization.   On this point, I will leave the thought experiment to the great Lysander Spooner.  From "No Treason — No. II. The Constitution.":

No middle ground is possible on this subject. Either "taxation without consent is robbery," or it is not. If it is not, then any number of men, who choose, may at any time associate; call themselves a government; assume absolute authority over all weaker than themselves; plunder them at will; and kill them if they resist. If, on the other hand, "taxation without consent is robbery," it necessarily follows that every man who has not consented to be taxed, has the same natural right to defend his property against a taxgatherer, that he has to defend it against a highwayman.