Richard Murphy on Tax

• Agrees with MMT: taxes imposed by state to mobilize resources for public purpose

• With rare exceptions, this imposition is negotiation between state and rest of society

  • Imposed with consent and paid by consent

  • Compliance is treated as normal; non-compliance warrants compulsion

  • "Tax is accepted if the authority imposing it appears to reflect the society that is paying it." (28)

• Modern state is defined by its ability to tax its inhabitants in an acceptable manner

  • History of tax is history of state itself

  • Tax defines what a state thinks it can do