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People fight against taxes. Now imagine how much harder they would fight if the tax man wanted 100% of their income and wealth. Now imagine what it takes for

• frank_nitti 7y ago
  The "tax man" may actually represent the will of more individuals in your scenario, but those that are fighting against him are far more rich and powerful. When the rich and powerful unite against the tax man and the "proletariat", they always win. So, when you say "people fight against taxes", we should clarify what people we are talking about. Plenty of people supported the collectivist movements of the era, and they are also people.
• coldtea 7y ago
  There are several reasons for the paranoia, but not "the taxman wanted 100%". That's more of an American liberal way of seeing it, and hardly what was going on for the masses at the time. Characteristic of the paranoia is that the worst purges after all were against party members and top party elites themselves. Not because any of them resisted the "tax man" (heck, they had wealth and preferential treatment), but because they could threaten Stalin or limit his control. Similar with Mao in China. The bloody cultural revolution wasn't some mass murder of people resisting the party rule or the "taxman", but party elites splitting the people into factions and using them as proxies to fight internal party power struggles.