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Bridges and roads are pretty easy, we already have toll roads that are paid for by those that use them. The businesses along those roads and bridges have a vested interest in keeping the roads in good shape to make it easier and more pleasant to reach their businesses, so they can organize themselves and contract the roadwork.


It is clear that if word got out about a grocery store selling bad food that store would suffer a great loss of business, and possibly go out of business. Therefore, they have vested interest in providing quality food. Besides setting up their own standards in order to protect their reputation from popular opinion and their rear end from lawsuits, they could hire independent food inspectors. Like the grocery, the food inspector would also have a vested interest in doing an excellent job since the slightest slip could cost them the entire business due to people choosing other suppliers and being damaged by lawsuits (if you were out sick for a week due to eating tainted food that was sold as good you could sue for lost wages, etc).

This type of private system can work on nearly all applications within a truly free market. When people have a choice they can always choose someone else to do business with, and that quickly eliminates the poor businesses and rewards the good one.

A good example of this is Consumer Reports and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Consumer Reports bases their whole business on honest, quality evaluations. Same for the IIHS, standards upheld without the need for government because the insurance companies want to know which cars are likely to cost them, drivers want to know what will keep them safest, and the car companies want to gain sales from the reputation for making safe vehicles.

Of course, any system such as this can fall prey to incompetence and/or corruption. The car companies can pay off IIHS to give them a good rating. Consumer Reports might not understand the product they review or how to collect quality data. But in no way is the government, performing the same services, any more immune from these problems. In fact, the government is much more likely to be incompetent and corrupt since those providing the service are much less dependent on the quality of their service for their survival. It is much easier to not buy a Consumer Reports magazine or ignore the IIHS then it is to rid yourself of DOT's standards, or the EPA (or BATFE etc.).

There is plenty of literature available discussing the organization and structure of society without the coercive force of government. I'll try to dig up some relevant material this weekend when I have a bit more time.


That being said, a sales tax is more palatable to me than any sort of income tax since at least the sales tax can be seen as the fee paid for government enforcement of contracts. Granted, that can be done privately too, but it is a step in the right direction since it is closer for paying for a service (paying a specified fee for a specified service) than any income tax, which can only be thought of as theft. Not to mention, the privatization of currently government provided (forced) services actually opens up huge opportunities for the creation of new businesses.