“Taxation is theft” — to libertarians, it’s more than a slogan.
While many accept Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.’s famous line, “Taxation is the price we pay for a civilized society,” libertarians see it as coercion: money taken under threat of fines, seizure, or jail. Voices from John Locke to modern figures like Justin Amash and Spike Cohen argue that if individuals can’t rightfully steal, neither can the state. The debate isn’t about ending services — it’s about replacing compulsion with choice, letting people fund what they value voluntarily.