Here is an indication of how taxation currently infringes on our freedom. A family man earning $4,500 a year works, on the average, twenty-two days a month. Taxes, visible and invisible, take approximately 32% of his earnings. This means that one-third, or seven whole days, of his monthly labor goes for taxes. The average American is therefore working one-third of the time for government: a third of what he produces is not available for his own use but is confiscated and used by others who have not earned it. Let us note that by this measure the United States is already one-third “socialized.” The late Senator Taft made the point often. “You can socialize,” he said “just as well by a steady increase in the burden of taxation beyond the 30% we have already reached as you can by government seizure. The very imposition of heavy taxes is a limit on a man’s freedom.” But having said that each man has an inalienable right to his property, it also must be said that every citizen has an obligation to contribute his fair share to the legitimate functions of government. Government, in other words, has _some_ claim on our wealth, and the problem is to define that claim in a way that gives due consideration to the property rights of the individual. The size of the government’s rightful claim--that is, the total amount it may take in taxes--will be determined by how we define the “legitimate functions of government.” With regard to the federal government, the _Constitution_ is the proper standard of legitimacy: its “legitimate” powers, as we have seen are those the Constitution has delegated to it. Therefore, if we adhere to the Constitution, the federal government’s total tax bill will be the cost of exercising such of its _delegated_ powers as our representatives deem necessary in the national interest. But conversely, when the federal government enacts programs that are _not_ authorized by its delegated powers, the taxes needed to pay for such programs _exceed_ the government’s rightful claim on our wealth.