… is from page 570 of the final volume – Bourgeois Equality – of Deirdre McCloskey’s paradigm-shifting trilogy on the essence and role of bourgeois values in modern life (footnotes deleted; link added):
Robert Higgs, who is an expert on both the history of slavery and the history of taxes, notes that the arguments in defense of slavery have run parallel with the arguments for taxes. No one volunteers for slavery, just as no one pays taxes voluntarily.
