"That a majority, merely because it is a majority, should be entitled to apply to a minority a rule which does not apply to itself is an infringement of a principle much more fundamental than democracy itself, a principle on which the justification of democracy rests."

— Hayek, Friedrich event 1960

menu_book The Constitution of Liberty

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"In order to provide us with all this protection, the state managers expropriate more than 40 percent of the incomes of private producers year in and year out."

— Hoppe, Hans-Hermann event 2009

menu_book The Private Production of Defense

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"It is a sharing of plunder, not a gift, the state is not the legitimate owner of what it has taken from the taxpayer."

— Hülsmann, Jörg Guido event 2026

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"We tax speeders on the highways to get them to stop speeding. We tax cigarettes to get people to stop smoking. Why then do we tax people who earn income? Why do we tax people who employ other people? Why do we tax companies that make wonderful products at low cost and make lots of profits? Don't for a moment think that the same consequences don't befall taxes on income, employment, and profits as they do on speeders and on smokers."

— Laffer, Arthur event 2025

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"If you tax people who work, and you pay people who don't work, do not be surprised if you have a lot of people not working."

— Laffer, Arthur event 2025

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"What difference does it make whether a man is despoiled of his fortune openly and by force, or secretly, by stealth, whether through a bandit on the road or through a prince who debases the currency by which all things are measured?"

— Mariana, Juan de event 1599

menu_book De Rege et Regis Institutione (On the King and the Royal Institution)

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"The prince is not the owner of the private property of his subjects. To impose new taxes or to increase old ones without the consent of the people is an act of tyranny, contrary to natural law and destructive of the commonwealth."

— Mariana, Juan de event 1599

menu_book De Rege et Regis Institutione (On the King and the Royal Institution)

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"Taxes are necessary. But the system of discriminatory taxation universally accepted under the misleading name of progressive taxation of income and inheritance is not a mode of taxation. It is rather a mode of disguised expropriation of the successful capitalists and entrepreneurs."

— von Mises, Ludwig event 1949

menu_book Human Action: A Treatise on Economics

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"Yes, the deficit is a grave problem, but the way to cut it is never to increase taxes (certainly not during a recession!) but instead to slash government expenditures."

— Rothbard, Murray event 1995

menu_book Making Economic Sense

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"No, the only sound cure for deficits is a simple but virtually unmentioned one: cut the federal budget."

— Rothbard, Murray event 1995

menu_book Making Economic Sense

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"The State is that organization in society which attempts to maintain a monopoly of the use of force and violence in a given territorial area; in particular, it is the only organization in society that obtains its revenue not by voluntary contribution or payment for services rendered but by coercion."

— Rothbard, Murray event 1974

menu_book Anatomy of the State

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"Taxation is theft, purely and simply, even though it is theft on a grand and colossal scale which no acknowledged criminals could hope to match. It is a compulsory seizure of the property of the State's inhabitants, or subjects."

— Rothbard, Murray event 1982

menu_book The Ethics of Liberty

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De Rege et Regis Institutione (On the King and the Royal Institution)

person Mariana, Juan de event 1599

Juan de Mariana's major work of political theory, published in 1599. Mariana argues that political power originates in the community and is held in...

school School of Salamanca balance Natural Law account_balance Political Philosophy lock Tyranny payments Taxation trending_down Currency Debasement school Philosophy history History shield Rule of Law person Individual Rights

Le Détail de la France

person Le Pesant de Boisguilbert, Pierre event 1695

Boisguilbert's landmark diagnosis of French economic decline, arguing that ruinous taxation and mercantilist interference had strangled commerce an...

history Early Economics work Political Economy payments Taxation import_export Free Trade

Making Economic Sense

person Rothbard, Murray event 1995

A collection of Rothbard's newspaper and journal columns from 1982 to 1995, applying Austrian economics to deficits, inflation, welfare, and the my...

payments Taxation policy Economic Policy gavel Government Intervention menu_book Austrian Economics

Evenings on Saint-Lazare Street

person de Molinari, Gustave event 1849

A series of Socratic dialogues in the style of Bastiat, Molinari's contemporary and colleague, in which an economist, a conservative, and a sociali...

trending_up Free Market flag Liberty analytics Economics balance Natural Law payments Taxation

La Tyrannie fiscale

person Salin, Pascal event 2014

Exposes the French tax system as arbitrary, economically destructive, and morally indefensible, showing that high taxation is not a neutral technic...

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Le Pesant de Boisguilbert, Pierre

event 1646 - 1714

French jurist and economist who exposed the ruin wrought by Colbertist taxation and mercantilist controls, arguing that wealth flows from free prod...

history Early Economics import_export Free Trade payments Taxation work Political Economy school French Liberal School

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Laffer, Arthur

American economist, creator of the Laffer Curve, influential in supply-side economics and tax policy

production_quantity_limits Supply-Side Economics payments Taxation show_chart Laffer Curve policy Economic Policy

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Mariana, Juan de

event 1536 - 1624

Jesuit historian and political theorist at Toledo, author of De Rege et Regis Institutione (1599). Mariana argued that political sovereignty derive...

school School of Salamanca balance Natural Law account_balance Political Philosophy lock Tyranny payments Taxation trending_down Currency Debasement monetization_on Sound Money school Philosophy history History analytics Economics history Early Economics

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Salin, Pascal

French economist and professor emeritus at Paris-Dauphine University, former president of the Mont Pelerin Society (1994–1996), and one of France's...

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Laffer Curve

The Laffer Curve is an economic model illustrating the relationship between tax rates and the total tax revenue collected by governments. It shows ...