[throwaway3699]

Taxes are something we've decided is in the collective interest, but they are still the government reaching into your pocket. Especially with ever increasing overreach, mainly to fund blowing up kids overseas, I can understand this opinion.

[michaelgrafl]

I don't pay taxes in the US. I pay them in Austria, where the system mostly works (in comparison).

If taxes are misused, the misuse is the problem, not the concept of taxes itself. Government may be reaching into our pockets, but we also reach into the government's pocket when we need to (again, Austrian speaking here. My wife received around 2700 Euros per month during Mutterschutz, which surprised both of us, since she hadn't been working for some time due to it being our third child, just as an example).

[developer93]

Sometimes taxes are misused, but try working without them as a country.