Huntington Beach was awarded the official title of “Surf City” by the U.S. Patent and Trade Office in 2006 based on its historical beach culture, music and active outdoor lifestyle. A great case could also be made to have the entirety of California designated as the “Serf State” based on its excessive taxation, burdensome regulations and poor government services.

Serfdom generally refers to the economic and legal systems in which a tenant farmer was bound to a hereditary plot of land and to the will of his feudal lord. For example, serfs in medieval Europe obtained their subsistence by working land that was owned by a “noble.”

“The Road to Serfdom,” written in the early 1940s by Austrian-British economist and philosopher Friedrich Hayek, remains one of the most influential works on free market capitalism. Indeed, many of today’s economic libertarians are known as adherents to the Austrian School of economic theory. This is distinguished from Keynesians who advocate for centralized control of the economy by “experts,” usually employed by government.

Hayek contended that Marxism or its slightly less poisonous variant, socialism, leads to poverty, oppression and loss of basic human liberties.

So, cutting to the chase, is excessive taxation a form of “involuntary servitude” (a phrase that actually appears in the U.S. Constitution) or at least serfdom? Of course, “excessive” taxation should not be construed to mean all taxation.

A level of taxation that is confiscatory can no longer be called civilized.