Taxes and Spending

Mark Thornton presents a Misesian commentary on why politics is to blame for the impending U.S. government "shutdown," and how a gold standard could provide real fiscal discipline.

Interviewed by Ken McClenton on “The Exceptional Conservative Show” on 27 May 2013, Mark Thornton talks about the historical reaction o

Interviewed by “Butler on Business” host Alan Butler, Mark Thornton talks about the popping of the bond bubble.

Recorded at Mises University 2013.

The IRS has a history of political abuse. Hoover, FDR, JFK, and Richard Nixon all used the IRS against enemies, long before Clinton or Obama.

All services that government provides can be privately provided goods and services. All voluntary arrangements are better than coercive ones.  Anarchy is simply no rulers, but not no rules.

The parasite - the state - has to have a host. First there had to be production before there could be something to tax or steal. Kings waged dynastic wars requiring high taxation. Revolutions and secession resulted.

The myth of the fair tax is the myth of the just tax. Taxation is a coerced, not voluntary, exchange. It is false to say bureaucrats pay taxes. They consume taxes. They plunder. They are the tax eaters. The rest of us are tax payers.

Taxes are not just wrong, they are destructive. It is highly questionable that private parties could not create goods and services that consumers want at higher quality and lower costs.

April 15th is a horrible day, because it sums up all the wealth destruction called taxation that we are subjected to all year long.