My
cousin wrote an expose of the lucky sperm club, linked below, that
makes references to Libertarian reluctance to pay taxes. As a
libertarian I understand that taxes must be collected to defend the
country and maintain a judiciary to interpret the law and a police to
keep it. I would disagree with any tax being an unfair burden, though
too high a tax is a form of enslavement where property is unfairly
taken from an individual for redistribution to another. Taxes that
are so costly to administer that they generate more heat through
friction then revenue are especially noxious since the usual
beneficiaries are financiers, tax lawyers, accountants and lobbyist.
Steve Schwarzman of Blackstone defense of the carry interest comes to
mind along with all the other tax benefits his firm enjoys. I prefer
simple to interpret taxes that avoids re-distributing to fat cats.
Taxes
that are complicated and costly to administer, and labeled
as “fair”, have more to do with life as a lottery with
preordained results described in The Grasshopper and The Ant.
Unlike Adam Smith's invisible hand of players acting in their self
interest directing economic activity with a price mechanism toward a
common good, other systems require costly influence peddlers to
define what is fair and administrators to maintain it. It is my
contention that those working outside of the invisible hand to direct
and administer are the self perpetuating class that propagates
complex and expensive taxes that hinder social mobility most
unfairly.
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