“Impostos, moralidade e ética,” Mises Instite Brazil (Mar. 14, 2011), was just published. This is a Portugese translation of the original version of the Philosophie Magazine Interview on Taxation (2011).
“Hans-Hermann Hoppe im Gespräch” (pdf), a German-language interview on the topic of democracy and private law society, with the Swiss monthly Schweizer Monatshefte (Dec. 2010).
[This is the original French version of the Philosophie Magazine Interview on Taxation (2011)]
Les impôts sont-ils compatibles avec la liberté individuelle et les droits de propriété ? Y a-t-il un taux de prélèvement à partir duquel il n’y a plus de compatibilité ?
Non. Quel que soit le taux de prélèvement, les impôts ne sont jamais compatibles avec la liberté individuelle et les droits de propriété. Les impôts sont un vol. Naturellement, l’Etat, ainsi que ses agents et alliés tentent de leur mieux de dissimuler ce fait, mais cela ne peut pas être dissimulé. A l’évidence, les impôts sont tout le contraire de paiements ordinaires et volontaires en échange de biens et services: vous n’êtes pas autorisé à mettre fin à ces paiements si vous n’êtes plus satisfait du produit. Alors que vous n’êtes pas puni si vous arrêtez d’acheter des Renault ou du parfum Chanel, vous êtes envoyé en prison si vous arrêtez de payer pour les écoles ou universités publiques aussi bien que pour le faste de Monsieur Sarkozy. De même, il est impossible de considérer les impôts comme un simple loyer, à la manière de ce qu’un locataire verse à son propriétaire, parce que l’Etat français n’est pas le propriétaire de toute la France ou de tous les Français. Pour devenir le propriétaire, l’Etat français devrait être en mesure de prouver deux choses: que lui, et lui seul, possède tout centimètre carré du pays, et qu’il détient un contrat de location avec chacun des Français quant à l’usage, ainsi que le prix d’usage, de cette propriété. Aucun Etat -pas plus l’Etat français que l’Etat allemand ou l’Etat américain- ne peut prouver cela. Ils n’ont aucun document à cet effet et ils ne peuvent présenter aucun contrat de location. Il n’y a donc qu’une seule conclusion: la fiscalité, c’est le vol et le brigandage par lesquels une partie de la population, à savoir la classe dirigeante, s’enrichit aux détriments du reste de la population, à savoir les gouvernés. [continue reading…]
A few months ago, a French journalist, Mr. Nicolas Cori, approached me with the request for an interview on the subject of taxation, to be published in the French monthly “Philosophie Magazine,” in the context of current “tax reform” debates in France.
I agreed to the interview, it was conducted by email in English, Mr. Cori produced a French translation, my friend Dr. Nikolay Gertchev checked and corrected his translation, and I then sent the authorized translation to Mr. Cori. Since then, more than a month ago, and despite repeated promptings, I have not heard from Mr. Cori. I can only speculate as for the reasons of his silence. Most likely, he did not get permission from his superiors to publish the interview, and he does not possess the courtesy and courage to tell me.
In any case, here is the original interview. The authorized French version is available on the translations-page of my website, www.hanshoppe.com, here.
NC: Are taxes consistent with individual freedom and property rights? Is there a level of taxation where it is no more consistent?
Hoppe:
No. Taxes are never, at no level of taxation, consistent with individual freedom and property rights. Taxes are theft. The thieves – the state and its agents and allies – try their very best to conceal this fact, of course, but there is simply no way around it. Obviously, taxes are not normal, voluntary payments for goods and services, because you are not allowed to stop such payments if you are not satisfied with the product. You are not punished if you do no longer buy Renault cars or Chanel perfume, but you are thrown into jail if you stop paying for government schools or universities or for Mr. Sarkozy and his pomp. Nor is it possible to construe taxes as normal rent-payments, as they are made by a renter to his landlord. Because the French state is not the landlord of all of France and all Frenchmen. To be the landlord, the French state would have to be able to prove two things: first, that the state, and no one else, owns every inch of France, and second, that it has a rental contract with every single Frenchman concerning the use, and the price for this use, of its property. No state – not the French, not the German, not the US-American or any other state – can prove this. They have no documents to this effect and they cannot present any rental contract. Thus, there is only one conclusion: taxation is theft and robbery by which one segment of the population, the ruling class, enriches itself at the expense of another, the ruled. [continue reading…]
From an email announcement by Dr Washington Sanchez: Professor Hoppe will speak at the Australian Mises Seminar, to be held from the 25-26th of November this year.
The seminar will consist of a Friday night dinner (venue TBA) followed by a full day of lectures at Sydney’s Macquarie University that will be podcasted on http://www.mises.org.au (for the moment the website is forwarding traffic to LibertyAustralia.org). Here is a list of some of confirmed speakers:
1) Hans-Hermann Hoppe (the Great)
2) Steven Kates
3) Ben O’Neill
4) Chris Leithner
Published today in Libertarian Papers:
1. “Of Private, Common, and Public Property and the Rationale for Total Privatization”
by Hans-Hermann Hoppe 
Abstract: In this paper, first, I want to clarify the nature and function of private property. Second, I want to clarify the distinction between “common” goods and property and “public” goods and property, and explain the construction error inherent in the institution of public goods and property. Third, I want to explain the rationale and principle of privatization.
Francisco Capella interviews Hans-Hermann Hoppe in San Esteban Convent, Salamanca, Spain (Oct. 24, 2009). In this fascinating interview, Professor Hoppe explains how he became a Misesian and Rothbardian, and talks about his own contributions such as argumentation ethics (which Hoppe discusses in this video). (H/t Paul Vahur)
[Mises cross-post]
- Reflektioner över statens ursprung och stabilitet, Swedish translation of Reflections on the Origin and the Stability of the State, LewRockwell.com, June 23, 2008
- Det demokratiska monstret, translation of The Democratic Leviathan, Mises.org, 12/19/2001
Professor Hoppe’s Natural Order, the State, and the Immigration Problem (JLS, Vol. 16 Num. 1, Winter 2002): 75-97 has been translated into French by Francois Guillaumat: “L’Ordre naturel, l’état et le problème del’immigration.”
Dr. Hoppe delivered the Keynote Address (lectio magistralis) entitled “Principles of Sovereignty and Modern Democracy,” at the conference “The decline of contemporary Europe: National Sovereignty, Localization and Globalization,” University of Padova–Faculty of Law (Dec. 9, 2010). Audio and pictures. Local files:
