A 'Voluntary' Tax

What is it about politicians that makes them think taxes are voluntary, or makes them want to portray them as such to the public. First Senator Reid, and now, in today's Financial Times, the foreign minister of France, Bernard Kouchner, writes of a "voluntary contribution" that turns out to be a tax of 5 cents on every $1000 financial transaction. Elsewhere in the article, he calls it a "tax" and says it is "necessary," so it is hard to see exactly what is "voluntary" about it, other than that the politicians are volunteering the money of private individuals who participate in financial transactions and diverting the money for the politicians to use for their own purposes. It gives new meaning to the word voluntary. Would America still have a volunteer army if the army were composed of French conscripts?