Don Boudreaux offers his thoughts on the notion that “taxes are the price of civilization” in a letter to the editors at the Wall Street Journal:
6 November 2007
Editor, The Wall Street Journal
200 Liberty Street
New York, NY 10281
To the Editor:
Kelly Kennedy approvingly quotes Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.’s assertion that
“Taxes are what we pay for a civilized society” (Letters, November 6). But
Holmes was mistaken. Civilization progresses as it reduces resort to
centralized direction and force and develops instead institutions, such as
private property and markets, that increase the possibilities for productive,
creative, and peaceful cooperation among individuals.
As Cato Institute president Ed Crane rightly remarks, “Taxes are actually the
price we pay for our failure to create a civil society.”
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Fairfax, VA 22030
