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Confiscation Quotes

On the state's power to take what's yours.

These quotes treat confiscation as both a legal punishment and a broader feature of how the state funds itself, from strict justice demanding total confiscation to taxation described as confiscating a person's time. That framing connects with our Death collection through its discussion of death taxes.

Strict justice would demand total confiscation of your property, personal imprisonment and fines.

Quotes by Zebulon Pike

Many countries, even socialist Sweden and former communist Russia, have done away with their death taxes. They found the confiscation of wealth at death to be counterproductive.

Quotes by Stephen Moore

Since the State necessarily lives by the compulsory confiscation of private capital, and since its expansion necessarily involves ever-greater incursions on private individuals and private enterprise, we must assert that the State is profoundly and inherently anticapitalist.

Quotes by Murray Rothbard

Money is time made tangible - the time invested in the earning of it. Taxation is the confiscation of the earner's time. Although some taxation is necessary, all taxation diminishes freedom.

Quotes by George Will

Assert Quotes

In the absence of the gold standard, there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation. There is no safe store of value.

Quotes by Alan Greenspan

Frequently Asked Questions

How is confiscation connected to taxation in these quotes?
One quote argues that taxation is essentially the confiscation of the time a person spent earning their money, framing all taxes as a reduction of individual freedom, though some are called necessary.
Do any quotes mention confiscation as a legal penalty?
Yes, one describes strict justice demanding total confiscation of property along with imprisonment and fines, treating confiscation as one part of a harsher legal response.
What do these quotes say about death taxes specifically?
One notes that even socialist Sweden and former communist Russia eventually eliminated their death taxes, having found that confiscating wealth at death was ultimately counterproductive. Learn more in our Death quotes.
Is confiscation described as necessary to how a state functions?
Yes, one quote argues the state necessarily survives through the compulsory confiscation of private capital, and that its growth keeps encroaching further on private individuals and enterprise.
Are these quotes generally supportive or critical of confiscation?
They lean critical, treating confiscation, whether through taxation or state expansion, as something that diminishes freedom even when a degree of it is accepted as necessary.

Even socialist and former communist countries get mentioned as places that eventually abandoned confiscatory death taxes as counterproductive. For more, see our Communist page.