One could also say that ownership is theft: you're putting up a fence and preventing other people from using a resource, backed with a gun. More reasonable peo

One could also say that ownership is theft: you're putting up a fence and preventing other people from using a resource, backed with a gun. More reasonable people acknowledge that there are obligations both ways: Society has an obligation to the individual (private rights and ownership), and individuals have an obligation to society (taxes and limitations on what you can do to private property). I do agree that sales taxes seem kind of weird and arbitrary way to collect society's obligations. Personally I prefer something along the lines of Georgeism, where only property is taxed. This makes the ownership / taxation thing symmetric.