A Tax-free World

Imagine there are no taxes. None at all. What would the implications be?

There would be no state for a start because there would be no money to pay for it. There could potentially be a government made up of volunteers, like local councillors before they started getting paid, but they would have very little authority without a State to back up their decisions.

There would be no army, navy or air force - not a national one anyway, although there would undoubtedly be a huge growth in private militias and community-based vigilante groups, as law and order breaks down with no police or courts, other than Kangaroo ones.

Billionaires might have their own private armies of heavily-armed mercenaries to protect their property; perhaps a fighter jet to show off their wealth and protect them against the slightly less rich who can only afford a helicopter.

Drug barons and others involved in organised crime would be in their element, becoming warlords ruling with a rod of iron over communities in exchange for security - feudalism with rocket-propelled missiles. Tens of thousands of miles of roads wouldn't be repaired. Four-wheel drives would be all the rage among those who can afford them. Armour-plated vehicles would be de rigeur for the wealthy.

Petrol would drop in price by 80% because there is no fuel tax. Then it would shoot up in price because of disrupted supplies caused by maritime warlords seizing cargo ships.

Motorways would be privatised so tolls would be introduced and probably guarded by private security firms. Insurance prices would rocket so only the super rich would be covered.

Only those in work and the rich would have access to the health system, so the poor would depend on healthcare volunteers or more likely, die prematurely.

There would be no state pension and no welfare state, so poor people and many millions of pensioners would suffer from poverty. Begging would be a growth industry, as would the security industry.

Law and order would be a major problem with no police or courts. Disputes would be settled the old-fashioned way, by violence and localised wars. Countries would probably become, a few years down the line, a patchwork quilt of security zones ruled over by warlords. It would be the end of the nation-state that has dominated world affairs for centuries. There would be no conventional law because there would be no one to enforce it.

Lawyers would go out of business and accountants, too, because there would be no more work for them to do - they are, after all, privatised state bureaucrats. Ah yes, bureaucrats. They would be gone. Globalisation would come to a halt because in a world where security and instability were a major issue, trade would be seriously disrupted and consequently, imported goods would very expensive.

Banks, propped up as they are by the State, would collapse, bringing about the collapse of the financial system. Gold bullion and other precious metals would be the currency of choice. City life would be untenable as the infrastructure of everyday life collapses – food supplies, water, electricity, gas, all hard to come by and only affordable to the super rich living in their security zones, protected by their own private militias.

Crofters would return to the north of Scotland, ruled over by Tartan warlords with rocket launchers. Clan warfare would resume after centuries of peace. Food would have to be grown locally. Clean water and energy supplies would become problematic in many parts of the world with supplies of both would be scarce because of security issues.

Local 'nationalisms' would re-emerge with force. Feminism would be out of the window as the alpha males reassert themselves. No more equal opportunities. Racism would skyrocket. Literacy levels would plunge. Ignorance would proliferate.

Euthanasia would be back in fashion with a wider remit - murder anyone who gets in your way.

Everyone would be richer in the first instance because they would keep about 40% more of their earnings. But the financial gains would be cancelled out because they would have to fork out a huge sums of money on protection rackets, road repairs, a contribution to their local militia, backhanders left and right. Corruption would be rife.

Does this world sound familiar?

How about Iraq, Afghanistan or Somalia.

All of them have been described as weak or failed states.

How about going one stage further and have no state at all?

No tax, no state.

Call it freedom if you like. More like Mad Max, if you ask me.