Next in antiquity is the tax on land, which is at least easy to collect. This is akin to protection money paid to the gangster, the basic idea of feudalism. The cultivator of land is vulnerable to the extent that his whereabouts are known and the extent of his property defined. He cannot disclaim ownership without losing it, so that he will pay for the recognition of its boundaries and the exclusion of other people's cattle. The amount he will pay is roughly equivalent to the cost of moving to another area beyond the gangster's reach and becomes exhorbitant when no such place can be found. Perhaps we should eliminate the property tax and replace it with an income tax so we have no fear of losing our property. To summarize the position, the public revenue is regarded as limitless and expenditures rises eternally to meet it. They will then retire behind a smokescreen of technical mysteries, muttering finally that public finance is a more complex matter than is generally realized. Figures cannot lie, but liars can figure. The progressive transference of responsibility from the individual to the state cannot but weaken the individuality itself. Parkinson's Law of 1000: Any enterprise employing more than 1000 people becomes a self-perpetuating empire, creating so much internal work that it no longer needs any contact with the outside world.

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