… is from page 260 of Thomas Sowell’s 1999 book, Barbarians Inside the Gates:
It used to be said that taxes are the price we pay to live in a civilized society. Today, taxes are the price we pay so that politicians can buy the votes of those who are feeding at the public trough.
DBx: I’ve one amendment: Despite the frequently encountered claim, taxes were never the price anyone has paid to live in civilized society. Taxes – however necessary you believe them to be – are taken by force in order to fund the use of force. This reality means that taxes are the price we pay for the existing shortfall of our society from being fully civilized. (I believe that I first encountered this refutation of the claim that ‘taxes pay for civilization’ from Ed Crane.)
