The inescapable conclusion that taxation is theft has led to countless people asking for alternative forms of funding. Meeting this challenge is essential for libertarians, since our message requires a radical shift in thinking for many people. In this article, we visit the fictional city of Logan to demonstrate how a public security system could operate without taxes.

Logan

Let’s imagine the city of Logan has a population of 100,000 people. Without a tax structure, they have patrolmen, a court system, and jails.

The operation is very simple. All citizens voluntarily contribute $10 per week to the Basic Services Group (BSG), which renders  $52,000,000 per year to provide security. The budget is small, but the group has found ways to minimize costs. They operate out of a small building with only a few rooms; a couple of interview rooms, a dispatcher room, sleeping bay, office space, break room, bathrooms, and a conference room.

Patrolmen are owner/operators of their vehicles in the same manner truck drivers are today. Once hired, they receive special painting and lights to mark their cars. Rather than meeting at HQ at the start of shift, they begin patrols right away. Any necessary information is distributed by the dispatcher prior to shift. Their focus is restricted to stopping violent crimes and responding to emergencies; what we expect from private security.

Injured parties can request investigations by the BSG or another investigative body, but the evidence still has to satisfy a BSG group/jury. Juries are randomly selected from the BSG database, barring those who have a conflict of interest.

Read more at the Weekly Anarchist.