To be clear, I'm not saying taxation isn't necessary for a functional society. It's entirely possible there are no better alternatives. I don't live in the United States but I do live in a country that benefits greatly from government funded roads, police, fire and education. I'm under no delusion of the benefits. For the record, I always pay my taxes.

However, it's also wrong to assume taxation is the only valid way to structure human society. We don't know what the world is going to be like hundreds of years from now. It's always a good idea to question the status quo. That's the only way we improve.

With that out of the way, let me explain my position starting with the definition of theft.

Now let's look at the definition of taxation.

Mechanically these are the same thing. You did not consent to the government taking your money. You didn't have to because they are going to do it anyway, whether you like it or not. If you don't pay your taxes, you go to prison. Aside from leaving the country, there's no way to opt out. No matter which way you look at it, it's still coercion.

In fact, the only difference between tax and theft is that one is legal and other isn't. Laws put in place by the very people who collect your taxes.

The argument that they spend taxes on public infrastructure doesn't change the mechanics of how taxes are collected in the first place. If I hacked into your bank account and took 30% of your money it's still stealing, regardless of what I spend it on. Even if I used the money to buy you something nice.

You could also argue that the people collecting taxes are elected in a democracy and that is a form of consent. Even so, the only thing you're really consenting to is who gets to decide how much tax their going to collect from you in the future. And even that's a pretty weak argument because it's rare they'll actually do what they promised anyway.

I'm probably not going to convince you and that's fine. But I do think you should at least question why you think taxation isn't theft. Did you learn that in school? Maybe your parents told you? Maybe you read it in the media?

Whatever the case, it's at least worth considering that it's not a black and white issue. How much tax is fair? If they taxed you 100% of your income is that okay or is it slavery. What about 90% or 70%. Where exactly is the line? How many months of the year do you have to work to pay for roads, police, fire and education?