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> It’s levied across the whole society according to ability to pay.

In US, sales tax is not based on ability to pay. The very rich often have minimal W-2 income, so they often opt out of progressive income taxes.

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No idea, I’m a Brit so not familiar with the details of the US tax system. I’m mostly talking generally about free societies, as the sentiment in the book is broadly applicable. There are many forms of tax. If the system is unfair, sure, it should be fixed. Fundamentally though, my point is that the job of commandeering capital is taxation.

Sales taxes are state taxes, they don't pay for the military (except for the national guard, but they're tiny and the feds pay when they deploy abroad).

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