Taxpayers vs. Tax-Consumers: Rothbard’s Real Theory of Taxes and Spending
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- Published
- June 6, 2026
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- Last updated
- Jul 5, 2026
Discusses Mark Thornton replays his Rothbard University lecture on government spending and taxation, using Rot…
Summary
Mark Thornton replays his Rothbard University lecture on government spending and taxation, using Rothbard’s framework of binary intervention to overturn the standard civics-story that taxes are “the cost” of government and spending is “the benefit.” Mark argues both are economically destructive and distortionary, and that treating them as neutral is a cat…
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Show notes
Mark Thornton replays his Rothbard University lecture on government spending and taxation, using Rothbard’s framework of binary intervention to overturn the standard civics-story that taxes are “the cost” of government and spending is “the benefit.” Mark argues both are economically destructive and distortionary, and that treating them as neutral is a category mistake. Drawing on John C. Calhoun’s class analysis, he distinguishes net taxpayers from net tax-consumers, explaining how political fin