In this piece at Law and Liberty, Dalrymple argues that while raising taxes beyond a certain point may appear economically irrational (even self-defeating), it becomes perfectly rational if the goal isn’t prosperity but something else: namely, social engineering and control.

The members of the government who believe in high taxation have the same reaction to a free society as Le Corbusier had to the street. It lacks rationality, an overall plan or goal, it is higgledy-piggledy, and above all, it is not only unjust but unfair.