Taxes Again

The article below if from Hendrick Herzberg. I have enjoyed his essays in the New Yorker, and was happy to discover his blog at http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/hendrikhertzberg/?xrail


Since writing “Like, Socialism,” in which I had some fun juxtaposing Sarah Palin’s boast that Alaskans “share in the wealth” via “collectively” owning their state’s oil to her attacks on Obama for proposing to “spread the wealth” via higher marginal taxes on the rich, I’ve seen numerous e-mails along these lines: "I may not be Karl the Marxist (whoever that is), but even I can easily see the distinction (which evades Mr. Hertzberg) between sharing the proceeds of a common asset, like a state’s mineral rights, and spreading the wealth by confiscating (i.e., taxing) part of what some individuals have produced and giving it to others. The proceeds of government leases of drilling prospects are quite different from Hertzberg’s paycheck. If he can’t see that, why not share his entire paycheck with us?"

I see the distinction, too, but I don’t see much of a difference. What I dispute is the flat characterization of personal income as “what some individuals have produced.” Part of my gross income reflects my individual efforts, of course, but part of it reflects the social and political arrangements that make it possible for me to have a paycheck to begin with. That’s the part that’s withheld for taxes. I don’t regard this as “confiscation,” any more than I regard my other monthly bills that way.

In a democratic society, government is as much a “common asset” as the oil under the tundra. We all “share the proceeds,” such as roads, police protection, the Smithsonian Institution, and not getting conquered by foreign armies. And all taxes redistribute the wealth from some individuals to others, whether the others are defense contractors, firefighters, chicken inspectors, destitute mothers, or Chinese (and, lately, American) bankers.

It is fervently to be hoped that market idolatry—the belief that the market is the only truly valuable institution of society and everything else is a parasite on it—is on the way out. “Taxes are what we pay for a civilized society,” Mr. Justice Holmes is said to have said. “Freedom ain’t free,” sing the poets of Nashville. Right they are. And neither is civilization.