I think this post (like many posts about taxation) glosses over a very large part of what taxes actually do, and why they are levied.

Now this isn't about federal taxes which I'm sure we can all agree are a little over the top. I'm also not talking about how other countries deal with taxation. So from a US centric point of view let us consider local and state governments.

When a city is formed there are certain criteria that people expect from the municipality: Roads, clean water, waste removal, police, and fire. Each of those things take money to build and maintain. So the city raises money through property and sales tax. However, as the price of things increase, whether or not the increase is due to natural (scarcity) or artificial (the devaluation of currency) means, the city is forced to go into debt to continue with the projects that the citizens demand. The debt is then transferred to the people in the form of a small tax increase. Over time because of the continued increase in costs, and the ever growing population a city falls further and further into debt, which is again passed on to the people.

But here is the rub.

Every project is voted on, in public forum, broadcast through multiple channels up to two weeks before the vote is made as required by either state or local law. Unfortunately, that isn't enough to get people out to the polls or to be engaged in the process. So we say "DAMN government taking my money!", but we are allowing them to either through requesting a service, demanding a service to remain, OR not being involved at all.

Of course I would love to have complete control of where my pennies were spent, but we don't live in that world.