ABSTRACT
Most theories of distributive justice call for coercive redistribution of wealth on the part of the state—on these views, the state should take money from the relatively wealthy, presumably via taxation, to enrich the relatively poor. On its face, such redistribution would seem to be a violation of the property rights of the relatively wealthy. Wealth redistribution financed by taxation is a violation of the property rights of taxpayers. Taxation is a rights violation, even if the revenues are used solely to finance a minimal state. Taxation is a non-voluntary transfer of property that initially belongs to the taxpayer, anyone who accepts the libertarian critique of wealth redistribution should agree with that statement. But taxation is used to fund virtually all functions of government, including the functions that most libertarians accept as legitimate, such as police, courts, and the military (the minimal state).
