Have you ever been the victim of theft?
When you were, was the amount taken determined by your elected representatives? Were the funds stolen used for governmental functions, as to which you had input as a voter? Did the thief afford you a means to challenge the theft by administrative proceedings and even court action?
I've never had a theft with the above features, which characterize taxation.
No, of course taxation is not theft, except in thuggish regimes where due process rights are not provided.
Of course, it is theft. There is no due process you can follow to exempt yourself from paying taxes. If my friends vote for me to tax you, is that not theft? What if my friends give an official sounding title?
As the book says, theft is theft. This does not change when a larger amount of people commit the act, how many people agree with it, or to what degree the thief allows you to 'plead your case' against them. The act of stealing remains the same. Taxation is theft since we are not given the option to not consent.
Sure, if you like paying taxes, go ahead. But that does not give you the justification to take from others against their will to contribute to the things you value above the values of others.
So your saying as long as you can go to a court room after the money has been taken from you and plea your case (while giving the same organization that you are filing the complaint against) then it is not theft?
And because the organization that takes your property directly from you (prior to you receiving it) allows you to be engaged in process via "politics", after you have already paid for it, this also isn't theft?
Is the money you receive in your pay check yours first and foremost? Or is it the government's and you receive a portion?