Samizdata On Tax Havens and Individual Liberty

Samizdata has a short and well written post in support of tax havens. i would crib the whole thing but that is inappropriate so here is a little.

Another issue, of course, is this: democracy and liberty are not the same thing, a point that has been remarked at this blog many times before. For sure, democracy may - may - be the least-worst way to kick out a government and replace it with a hopefully better one, but the idea that freedom comes from letting 51% of the electorate steal from 49% of the electorate has precious little to do with liberty. The right to own property and enjoy its fruits unmolested is as important as freedom of speech or the right to self defence. Tax havens rile communitarians precisely because they are a standing reproach to the looters who use democratic mandates to justify their depredations.

Remember the politician who is willing to rob Peter to pay Paul can count on the vote of Paul.