In a meritocracy, people earn money by means reaping the rewards of their own personal merit.
The government has no money of its own. So, in order to fund these programs, it must first appropriate said money from the people who earned it in the first place.
This appropriation (taxation) is non-voluntary, and enforced by threat of violence (force of law).
When someone takes something from me by force that I would not otherwise be willing to give them, it is by definition theft.
Therefore, it would seem to me that taxation/theft is an intentional attempt by the government to reduce the rewards of my own personal merit.