One of the greatest magic tricks the State ever pulled was convincing people that taxes are noble. That they’re the “price we pay for civilization.” That without them, society would descend into chaos, dogs and cats would start living together, and we’d all be bartering chickens for open-heart surgery.

It’s a hell of a story. And it’s complete bullshit.

Who Really Builds Civilization?

Civilization isn’t the product of tax collectors and politicians. It’s the product of human beings creating, trading, and cooperating. Roads, bridges, medicine, technology — these didn’t come from the mind of a bureaucrat. They came from engineers, builders, scientists, entrepreneurs, and everyday people solving problems.

Government doesn’t make value. It takes value. And it spends most of its time making sure you don’t notice the difference.

The Compliance Racket

Taxes aren’t about “funding civilization.” They’re about maintaining obedience. If you can be fined, have your assets seized, or be locked in a cage for not paying, that’s not a contribution — that’s tribute to the ruling gang.

Every tax dollar is a vote for the continuation of the machine that claims the right to dictate how you live, what you can own, and how much of your life’s work you’re allowed to keep. They call it “funding the public good.” I call it paying for your own chains.

The DAC Alternative

In Divine Anarcho-Capitalism, the entire premise is flipped. Value is exchanged voluntarily. Communities decide what to fund and how to fund it. If you want roads, you fund roads — directly, transparently, and without a middleman skimming off half the budget for “administration.”

No one points a gun at your head and calls it “contribution.” You keep what you earn. You give to what you believe in. And if a service can’t survive without coercion, maybe it doesn’t deserve to survive.

Why This Matters

As long as people believe that taxes are the glue holding civilization together, they’ll keep tolerating the theft. But once you understand that civilization thrives in spite of taxation, not because of it, the whole illusion falls apart.

The truth is simple: civilization is built from the ground up by free people. Taxation is just the cost of keeping them obedient.

Like what you’re reading? This is just one of the illusions dismantled in The Blueprint for a Stateless Society. Download it and see how DAC replaces coercion with voluntary cooperation — and why that’s the only real foundation for a free, thriving civilization.