up and the best factual evidence that experts agree upon. To decide this, one has to select criteria, and then the criteria for determining the right criteria comes into play, and one is caught in a reductio . This is why I never argue this stuff with Austrians. The foregone conclusion it that it will end in stalemate at fundamental assumptions. Thank you for your excellent reply, Tom Hickey, with which I agree wholeheartedly. The assertion that taxes are necessary for public acceptance of fiat currency is a theory. You have stated my question better than I stated it. However, Warren Mosler must answer for his assertion that this theory is supported by evidence unless he can point to such evidence. Surely a theory not supported by evidence is not a basis for action. As for logic as proof, it seems illogical to me that a vast world economy transacting in USD would rest upon the foundation of the currency's acceptance for US tax purposes. Fiat currency is accepted because it is legal tender for settlement of all debts, public and private. The Chartalist claim is not that taxation is the only reason that people accept state money as a medium of exchange. The other theories of money all offer good reasons for doing so, and there are probably others. I don't think that anyone denies that money has utility, for instance, and that utility is a factor in the use of money. What Chartalism posits is that taxation is