paid by all the inhabitants, each one furnishing his share; and the
share which each one pays is his town tax.

[Sidenote: Taxation and eminent domain.]
From this illustration it would appear that taxes are private property
taken for public purposes; and in making this statement we come
very near the truth. Taxes are portions of private property which a
government takes for its public purposes. Before going farther, let
us pause to observe that there is one other way, besides taxation, in
which government sometimes takes private property for public purposes.
Roads and streets are of great importance to the general public; and
the government of the town or city in which you live may see fit, in
opening a new street, to run it across your garden, or to make you
move your house or shop out of the way for it. In so doing, the
government either takes away or damages some of your property. It
exercises rights over your property without asking your permission.
This power of government over private property is called "the right of
eminent domain." It means that a man's private interests must not be
allowed to obstruct the interests of the whole community in which
he lives. But in two ways the exercise of eminent domain is unlike
taxation. In the first place, it is only occasional, and affects only
certain persons here or there, whereas taxation goes on perpetually
and affects all persons who own property. In the second place, when
the government takes away a piece of your land to make a road, it pays
you money in return for it; perhaps not quite so much as you believe
the piece of land was worth in the market; the average human nature is
doubtless such that men seldom give fair measure for measure unless
they feel compelled to, and it is not easy to put a government under
compulsion. Still it gives you something; it does not ask you to part
with your property for nothing. Now in the case of taxation, the