When Leaders Take Too Much — Tao Te Ching

Lao Tzu names three causes of suffering under bad rule. The people suffer famine because of the multitude of taxes consumed by their superiors. It is through this that they suffer famine. Extraction starves the base that supports the system.

The people are difficult to govern because of the excessive agency of their superiors in governing them. It is through this that they are difficult to govern. Micromanagement breeds the resistance it was meant to prevent.

The people make light of dying because of the greatness of their labours in seeking the means of living. Thus to leave the subject of living altogether out of view is better than to set a high value on it. When survival itself is crushing, death loses its terror and people become dangerous.

Famine comes from the multitude of taxes consumed by superiors. Difficulty of government comes from the excessive agency of superiors in governing. Making light of dying comes from the greatness of labours spent seeking the means of living. Each sentence repeats the cause: it is through this. The closing turn says that to leave the subject of living altogether out of view is better than to set a high value on it. The taxes, the agency, and the labour are three ways superiors make the people's life too heavy to fear losing.