Source: Town Hall
by John C Goodman
“There is a long tradition in political philosophy holding that public policy should reflect certain moral principles. Not everyone agrees, of course. Friedrich Nietzsche and Thomas Hobbes, for example, came close to saying that ‘might makes right.’ But the political thinkers who shaped the American form of government believed that legitimate government exists for moral purposes. How does that idea apply to taxation? The Biblical commandment is clear enough: ‘Thou shall not steal.’ Since taxation is clearly a ‘taking’ under threat of coercion, we can ask, where does it cross the line from ‘legitimacy’ to ‘theft?’ That there is such a line is implicit in almost all modern political discourse.” (03/14/26)
https://townhall.com/columnists/johncgoodman/2026/03/14/the-morality-of-taxation-n2672835