(A reader of mine from Germany writes) Dear Dr. Hurd:

The worker who earns only a small amount of money should pay no taxes, but his premiums for health insurance, pension insurance, unemployment insurance and long term nursery insurance. The wealthy people should pay a reasonable income tax of between ten percent and fifty percent according to their income and their ability. If you take ten percent from a have-not, he will perhaps have to die. If you take fifty percent from a millionaire, he will most likely still be a millionaire. In a democratic state the democratically elected institutions have to decide who pays what and to which ends the money is used .… The government symbolizes "The State," as King Frederick The Great saw it. The government prohibits the use of force between citizens by influencing all the complicated processes going on between people, companies, organizations, unions and political parties.

The government forces employers not to "exploit" the workforce by setting standards like minimum wages, minimum vacation time, the eight hour day, the forty hour week and social security premiums. As well, it forces the employees not to ruin their employers by wild striking, demolishing the factories or threatening the employers or their women and children. This is the kind of "force" the government should use, as we in Germany see it.


Dr. Hurd's reply:

“The worker shall earn this much and be allowed to keep this much.” And, “The employer shall be allowed to keep this much of his profit, but not that much.” By what right? By what standard? And how do leftists decide that a certain percentage is the magically right amount? Where does this incredible wisdom come from?