No subject evokes more controversy than taxes. Not many people enjoy paying taxes. However, most people also realize taxes are essential to governance. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes said: “Taxes are what we pay for civilized society.”
Holmes was right. If we imagine a society without taxes, we see one without public schools, public roads, public universities, police and fire departments, national defense and zoning and environmental law enforcement intended to prevent a belching factory from setting up shop next to our house.
We will have a society where the poor cannot afford to educate their children, traffic is anarchy and rich people create their own private armies to protect themselves.