ABSTRACT
Marxists sought to replace privately owned capital with community owned and controlled capital, a move that would eliminate the power accruing to private owners. Leninists aimed to achieve the same objective by transferring privately owned capital to the state. In dealing with complexity in public policy, espousing a rather vague “big idea” is useful in rallying public support, but as a guiding principle with which to organize and make compatible the various policies needed it is not. In the contemporary era redistribution of capital via taxation involves intricate conflicts between families and their planners, on one side, and tax authorities and legislators on the other. The key feature of their interactions is the persistent and continuing search for advantage by the former, through new schemes and strategies that will preserve legally their private interests. Libertarians usually argue that social redistribution is permissible only when it is the result of freely chosen actions – such as via market mechanisms.
