content: Excise taxes are different because they are avoidable.  No one is forcing you to buy a car and put gas in it.  You can buy a bike or a motorcycle and use less gas.   But if you are using gas, you need a road, and that's where -in theory- your gasoline tax money should be spent. You make the choice to buy a car and use gasoline.  Income tax offers no such choice, you are property of the US government and you must pay them for the privileged of being a citizen.  This is the opposite of liberty.  5de  p> Income tax is theft because it is unavoidable.  To avoid income tax is to break the law and you will be forced into compliance under the threat of violence or you will be jailed.