I believe that every government has an obligation to provide for common defense and certain infrastructure necessary to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That takes money of some sort and taxes are the only way to provide that.

That said, there are taxes and there are TAXES. And there are fees which are taxes by a slightly different name.

Did you know that the excise tax we pay on our phones here in the US was enacted as a 'Tax the Rich' scheme to specifically pay for the Spanish American War. At that time, only 1 in 10,000 households or business' had phones, so the American public bought the idea. It's never been repealed and we still pay it on every phone line in the US.