This same distinction is in accord with general legal usage as
well,95 and has been the ground of court decisions outside the tax
area.
96
The usual presumption that equal value is exchanged in an
arms-length transaction does not apply to taxes, because taxes are
not paid at arms length, but under coercion. Taxpayers cannot
choose what to buy, nor how much to pay, nor even whether to
enter the transaction in the first place. Tax payments, willing or not, provide the taxpayer with none of the rights of a purchaser.
Dissatisfaction with the government's services or lack of benefit
from them97 do not provide grounds for a refund of taxes already
paid or for an offset against past" or future taxes.9 9 Taxes are not
earmarked to the taxpayer's account and create no rights in the
expenditure of government funds. 00 The obligation to pay taxes is
entirely unrelated to the level of governmental benefits received.' 0'
In fact, for most benefits it is irrelevant whether a person pays
taxes at all. Everyone is sheltered by the nuclear umbrella, protected
by the Food and Drug Administration, and provided with
access to the federal courts and federal highways. Persons who pay
no taxes receive the same, if not more benefits than those who do,
which makes it difficult to argue that the benefits are received in
exchange for taxes. 02
One might counter that the private sector also provides examples
of differential pricing for identical services where price depends
solely upon the buyer's income or wealth. College tuition
provides a striking example.10 It is at least arguable, however, that all buyers in the private sector receive their money's worth nonetheless.
At any of the prices tuition may command, it is still the
case that the parties engage in a voluntary exchange. Not so for
taxes, which are neither voluntary, nor an exchange.