With all I’m reading about America’s founding, I see the phrase “No taxation without representation” a lot. I recently noticed an extra meaning to it. I’m not sure how much it will resonate with others, but I find the second meaning valuable.
I’ve always understood it to promote representation, prompted by unwanted taxation. For this sense, I read the phrase like this grouping:
No “taxation” without “representation”
That is, taxation and representation are two separate concepts.
The new way is to read it as a type of taxation, so grouped as one unit:
No “taxation without representation”
In this sense, the phrase means no “unrepresented taxation.” In this phrasing, the problem isn’t taxation specifically but unrepresented government imposition. In this phrasing, it means
“No tyranny.”
