[ajsnigrutin]

If you provide something that the society wants, they're willing to pay for it. If you make good beer, people will buy it, if you make good music, people will pay for tickets to listen to your shows, if you make great art, people will buy it,...

Tax revenue is just a percentage of the income you make.

Is your work/activity/service really worth anything, if noone is willing to pay for it?

[mercer]

Nobody paid my mother to raise me well. Nobody pays me to call her, or visit her. Nobody pays me to coach my younger siblings. Nobody paid that one great teacher to cultivate a love for programming in me, when just doing okay was enough. Nobody paid that one guitar player/singer who left a lasting impression on me with his song.

Nobody pays for my girlfriend to show affection to me, or spend time with me. Nobody pays... you get the point.

So many of the best things in my experience have not been quantifiable, or in fact even actively hostile to commerce. That guitar player was not getting paid, but he wanted to play because he liked the vibe of the bar. For all I know he was good enough that he usually gets played. I know that some of the top performers in my country (stadium-level audiences) would do so at no cost at this bar, randomly, and if you were lucky it was when you went there for a beer.

I do hope you don't really see the world as a matter of finances and payment. It's depressingly reductive.

[ajsnigrutin]

But how much food can you buy with all the things you've listed as something you didn't get paid for? How much rent can you pay? How many plumbers, electricians can you call with your mothers love? You can strike a deal with an electrician, to call them or visit them, if they want, but if they don't, you have to offer them something they want - usually that's money.

You can still do all that, but you're expecting other people to do paid work, the government to take away a huge chunk of that money, and then give it to you, so you don't have to do paid work, and call your mom.

You can still play your guitar (or do whatever) for free, just for the love of doing that. But if you didn't get people to give you money (food, services,...) for your music then, or for you calling your mom, etc., you cannot expect the government to force them to do it on regular basis, if you play/call, or even if you don't.

[bluntfang]

>But how much food can you buy...

All the things GP listed were things that enabled him to make money and buy all the things, yet no one got paid for it.

[bluntfang]

>Is your work/activity/service really worth anything, if noone is willing to pay for it?

people pay for sex, yet sex workers aren't legally able to report their income and pay taxes.