Politicians, supporters of state spending, and even questioning students often challenge this negative view of taxation with the positive effects of public spending. In essence, the argument runs something like this:
Say man A makes $100,000 and man B is unemployed. The State decides to create a government job for man B. To do this, they tax man A $50,000 to pay for man B's salary. Surely the $50,000 that man A lacks is now in the hands of man B, who will spend it in the economy
instead? Therefore shouldn't there be no overall loss to the economy, but more people employed?
-Richard Teather, Ludwig von Mises Institute