>>No. Attempts to find a difference between taxation and confiscation are the exact definition of "distinction without a difference": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distinction_without_a_difference

I'm not sure that "no confiscation without representation" carries the traditional meaning- but then, I'm not a sophist.

Seems to me that a society that has to rely on confiscation is a very sad society, whereas a society that has to rely on taxation is trying to set predictable costs of participation and tends to be a democracy- and I can think of no democracies whose peaceful running does not rely on predictable taxation rates. Not on confiscation- unless you have an example in mind. Needless to say, democracy is the worst form of government except for all the others that have been tried.