Taxation is theft, but we pay it because the penalty for not paying is incarceration or worse. This is why it is our responsibility to minimize our tax liability as much as we can. While it's true that some billionaires pay less income tax than their secretaries or assistants, they also pay many other forms of taxes: property tax, licensing fees, permit fees, etc. For taxes both billionaire are secretray/assistant pay, the billionaire will pay magnitudes more: VAT or sales tax, health insurance tax, telecom tax, etc.

So if taxation is theft-- money taken by means of coercion-- what else can a government use as a source of money? Here are techniques used in the past:

• Lotteries -- These were used to fund various endeavors, and winners received their winnings.
• Tolls -- many roads or bridges began as private properties, and tolls charged were used to pay for their construction. At one time, public roads or bridges operated the same way; unfortunately, the tolls remained even after contruction costs had been recouped.
• Auctions -- If a government needed to raise funds quickly, it could sell off items which it doesn't really need.

While excise taxes are still being used, as a source of tax revenue they are minimal compared to what they had been in the past. We still pay fees for things we actually use, but we're also stuck paying fees for things some of us don't need.

All political forms of government rely on taxation, even democracies. While people will always need a way to govern themselves-- rules and boundaries to which all agree-- this does not necessarily mean that people need to use political forms of government. People can vote with their feet. People can vote with their wallets. People can also vote with their time. These are 3 ways in which people vote for what they want and get what they want all the time. Political forms of government rely on special interests to take from one group to pay for another group, and often people end up paying for things they don't want.

Governance does not mean government, yet government is what we end up with, and government is the greatest source of theft.