In graduate school a professor of mine often referred to the
“toolbox of government.” The characterization must have
resonated with me because I still use it in my own classes
almost fifteen years later. Of course he was referring to the
variety of actions that governments at all levels have at their
disposal to implement and otherwise enforce public policy. For
our purposes we can narrow the contents of the “toolbox” down to
the bare minimum: - The power of government to deprive a person
of liberty (think incarceration and in the most extreme form,
the death penalty)—the hammer. - The power of government to
deprive a person of property (think real property and money)—the
hammer. Confused? Don’t be. Chief Justice John Marshall
(1801-1835) is credited with expressing the position that the
power to tax is the power to destroy. In this regard the power
to tax is the power to punish those who violate the law, ignore
regulations, or otherwise challenge the general welfare—the
hammer. The power to tax citizens and