Ritchie gets into one of his hyperbolic moods, on the subject of tax's support for society.

Tax is the lubricant of that wellbeing.

I actually agree with this analogy. Tax is rather like a lubricant. Yet, as any engineer will tell you, too much lubrication can be a very bad thing.

Take oil. Engines need it, both to keep their moving parts from grating against each other, but also (in a different form) as fuel. It's an absolutely essential part of modern society. But too much oil kills wildlife and blights the natural world.

Or there's alcohol. A nice pint on a hot day can be refreshing. But too many youths getting wankered in town centres leads to violence, criminal damage and a massive loss of economic output.

Ritchie is right to claim that a certain amount of tax is necessary for good order. For things like enforcing personal property rights and the like. His dream level of tax, though, is the economics of the oil slick and the lager lout. Tax is such a heavy burden that it is now crushing the spirit of the people. We need a lighter load so that tax can again be a lubricant, not a pollutant.

Written on my Android mobile phone. Article may be edited later.

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Filed under: Economics, Other blogs with tags bp, idiots, property rights, richard murphy