Many prisons require able-bodied prisoners to work. In this way they pay for their room and board and get money to buy articles at the commissary. Now California moves to ban prison labor as a form of slavery. But wait – what about taxes?

Suppose my rate of federal, state, and local taxes totals 20%, a modest amount. This means that one day a week, I am forced to work for the government. But, you protest, for this the military protects you from invasion, the police protect you from criminals, and the CDC protects you from epidemics.

To this I reply, do they? Slaves received free room and board, and such care as the owner chose to provide. Did this make slavery less evil? What is slavery but a 100% tax rate? As tax rates approach 50% for even the modestly successful, we have a right to ask, at what rate does taxation become partial slavery?

You oppose forced labor by convicts? Then how do you feel about high tax rates for the law-abiding?