View source for No, Plato Did Not Think Taxes Were Some Sort of Permitted Theft

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{{DES | des = Claims that "[[Statism|Statists]] think that theft is okay when the government does it" are wrong: they think all citizens of a polity have an obligation to contribute to public expenses. | show=}}<!-- insert wiki page text here -->
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It was refusal to contribute to public expenses that for him was clearly a crime:

"But as regards attendance at choruses or processions or other shows, and as regards public services, whether the celebration of sacrifice in peace, or the payment of contributions in war-in all these cases, first comes the necessity of providing remedy for the loss; and by those who will not obey, there shall be security given to the officers whom the city and the law empower to exact the sum due; and if they forfeit their security, let the goods which they have pledged be, and the money given to the city; but if they ought to pay a larger sum, the several magistrates shall impose upon the disobedient a suitable penalty, and bring them before the court, until they are willing to do what they are ordered." -- The Laws, Book XII 

By the way, the point of this post is not to prove or even argue that any or all governments can justifiably collect taxes: that is a separate argument. No, what I am doing is illustrating the fatuousness of the common libertarian charge that claims "Statists think that theft is okay when the government does it."

No, what "statists" generally think is that all citizens of a polity have an obligation to contribute to public expenses (whether or not they ever "contracted" to do so), and that the failure to fulfill that obligation invites legal remedy.
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