Government taxation and theft: due process

In a column I wrote last week, I boldly stated that excessive government taxation was essentially tantamount to theft. That is to say, when the government taxes too much, it steals. It steals from the people–from the people it was ironically supposed to protect from theft. It steals from private individuals.

Unfortunately, not all people share this view. Many believe that a democratic government is always legitimate–and that taxation, no matter how excessive or unreasonable, could never amount to the crime of theft.

It could never amount to theft, they claim, because of a thing called “due process of law.” After all, the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution clearly states that “No person shall . . . be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law . . . .”

To be sure, “due process of law” is often a great protection. It often greatly aids in the cause of liberty, and it generally preserves individual rights.

Unfortunately, “due process” does not quite go far enough. Due process can still facilitate theft. In fact, in many instances, due process actually works to legitimize the most repugnant and odious theft of private property.

To illustrate this point, imagine, if you will, ten individuals stranded on an uninhabited island. Imagine that each person had something of value to exchange.

Instead of freely trading with each other on the basis of economics, individual merit, supply and demand, etc., suppose that some irrational castaways preferred to rob or steal rather than trade or produce. Now if these loathsome, contemptible individuals decide to steal openly, they might meet with considerable difficulty. They might find themselves overpowered by the others. They might be punished and subdued.

It is dangerous for men to rob or steal on an individual basis. It is far better–far safer and much more efficient–to organize wholesale, collective theft. To do this, they need to establish a government they can control and influence. They need to enact “due process” as a safe, legitimizing cover.

Thus, instead of one individual stealing or robbing from another, what we have is theft by consensus–theft by due process of law. Unsavory individuals organize a vote. They vote to redistribute resources–to redistribute wealth and private property. They take from one group of people and give to another group. They do it openly under the cover of due process. They go through some sort of organized process and this somehow magically makes everything all right.

But due process of law doesn’t necessarily make it right. It is wrong to enslave people. The fact that America’s founding fathers countenanced slavery–the fact that it was enabled through legislative “due process”–does not make it right.

Men are born free. They are endowed (by their creator or not) with certain inalienable rights. We should be VERY, VERY careful about using the doctrine of “due process of law” to deprive them of these natural rights. Which means that government taxation should be kept to an absolute minimum. Elect people like me into public office and we will see to that!

Strictly a personal view. Charles Reyes Jr. is a regular columnist of Saipan Tribune. Mr. Reyes may be reached at charlesraves@hotmail.com