March 16, 2007 9:35AM # Euphemisms for Theft By [Michael F. Cannon](https://www.cato.org/people/michael-f-cannon) --- SHARE English is a rich language. One reason is that we don’t have an equivalent of *[l’Academie Française](http://www.academie-francaise.fr/)*, which tries (and fails) to prevent [loan words](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loanword), [neologisms](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neologisms), and deviations from prior rules of grammar. Another reason is that political processes keep generating euphemisms designed to disguise horrid behavior. (“[Did I say death camps? I meant happy camps.](http://members.tripod.com/~JB5555/southpark/hapicamp.wav)”) To honor that tradition, I offer this list of euphemisms for theft: - [Taxation](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxation) - [Income redistribution](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_redistribution) - [Property redistribution](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Property_redistribution) - [Eminent domain](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eminent_domain) - [Regulatory taking](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulatory_taking) - [Land reform](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neologisms) (my favorite) - Soaking the rich - [Nationalization](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nationalization) - [Rent-seeking](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent-seeking) - [Seignorage](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seigniorage) - [Import quota](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Import_quota) Email me [here](mailto:mcannon@cato.org) with additional candidates. ##### Related Tags [General](https://www.cato.org/general), [Government and Politics](https://www.cato.org/government-politics), [Regulation](https://www.cato.org/regulatory-studies), [Tax and Budget Policy](https://www.cato.org/tax-budget-policy) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).