Tax

===Against===
{{Main|Tax noncompliance|Taxation as slavery|Taxation as theft}}
Because payment of tax is compulsory and enforced by the legal system, rather than voluntary like [[crowdfunding]], some political philosophies view taxation as theft, extortion, slavery, as a violation of [[property rights]], or tyranny, accusing the government of levying taxes via [[force (law)|force]] and [[coercive]] means.<ref>For an overview of the classical liberal perspective on taxation see [http://www.irefeurope.org/en/content/tax-and-justice www.irefeurope.org] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091205185557/http://www.irefeurope.org/en/content/tax-and-justice |date=5 December 2009 }}</ref> [[Objectivists]], [[anarcho-capitalists]], and [[right-wing libertarian]]s see taxation as government aggression through the lens of the [[non-aggression principle]]. The view that democracy legitimizes taxation is rejected by those who argue that all forms of government, including laws chosen by democratic means, are fundamentally oppressive. According to [[Ludwig von Mises]], "society as a whole" should not make such decisions, due to [[methodological individualism]].<ref>''[[Human Action]]'' [https://www.mises.org/humanaction/chap2sec4.asp Chapter II. Sec. 4. The Principle of Methodological Individualism] by Ludwig von Mises</ref> Libertarian opponents of taxation claim that governmental protection, such as police and defense forces might be replaced by [[Market (economics)|market]] alternatives such as [[Private defense agency|private defense agencies]], [[arbitration]] agencies or [[Voluntary taxation|voluntary contributions]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.mises.org/story/2701 |title=The Rule of Law Without the State |author=Spencer Heath MacCallum |publisher=[[Ludwig Von Mises Institute]] |date=12 September 2007 |access-date=16 August 2008}}</ref>

[[Murray Rothbard]] argued in ''[[The Ethics of Liberty]]'' in 1982 that taxation is theft and that [[tax resistance]] is therefore legitimate: "Just as no one is morally required to answer a robber truthfully when he asks if there are any valuables in one's house, so no one can be morally required to answer truthfully similar questions asked by the state, e.g., when filling out income tax returns."<ref>{{cite book |url=http://mises.org/rothbard/ethics/twentyfour.asp |title="The Moral Status of Relations to the State", chapter 24 of ''The Ethics of Liberty'' |isbn= 978-0-8147-7506-6 |publisher=[[Humanities Press]] 1982, [[New York University Press]] 1998 |author=Murray N. Rothbard |access-date=2 September 2012 |date=May 1998 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://mises.org/rothbard/ethics/twentyfour.asp |title="The State versus Liberty", excerpt from chapters 22–25 of ''The Ethics of Liberty'' (LewRockwell.com, 2007) |author=Murray N. Rothbard |access-date=2 September 2012 }}</ref>

Many view government spending as an inefficient use of capital, and that the same projects that the government seeks to develop can be developed by private companies at much lower costs. This line of argument holds that government workers are not as personally invested in the efficiency of the projects, so the overspending happens at every step of the way. In the same regard, many public officials are not elected for their project management skills, so the projects can be mishandled. In the United States, President [[George W. Bush]] proposed in his 2009 budget "to terminate or reduce 151 discretionary programs" which were inefficient or ineffective.<ref>{{Cite web|date=February 2008|title=Major Savings and Reforms in the President's 2009 Budget|url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BUDGET-2009-SAVINGS/pdf/BUDGET-2009-SAVINGS.pdf|access-date=21 November 2021|website=govinfo}}</ref>

Additionally, critics of taxation note that the process of taxation, not only unjustly takes money of citizens, it also unjustly takes considerable time away from citizens. For example, it is estimated by the American Action Forum that Americans spend 6.5 billion hours annually preparing their taxes.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.americanactionforum.org/insight/tracker-the-cost-of-tax-paperwork/|title=Tracker: The Cost of Tax Paperwork| date=14 April 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://reason.com/2022/04/15/americans-will-spend-6-5-billion-hours-on-income-taxes-this-year/|title=Americans Will Spend 6.5 Billion Hours on Income Taxes This Year| date=15 April 2022}}</ref> This is equivalent of roughly 741,501 years of life lost every year to complete tax forms and other related paperwork.