[rolenthedeep]

I think a lot of it is the opaque way our taxes are collected and used, as well as corruption in government.

People get mad about taxes because the government takes 25% of our income and leaves our infrastructure to rot and crumble, continually reduces funding for schools and other social programs. Meanwhile we spend an absolutely bonkers insane amount on """defense""", which really gets used to pay grifters and to blow up other poorer nations who don't actually pose a threat.

Taxes should be about paying in for the common good. The way it works right now is we pay, and the commons get worse.

It's really difficult to feel good about paying taxes when you don't actually get anything out of the deal. Where do my tax dollars actually go? It's impossible to tell, but it is clear that every single level of government which takes taxes from me are not using it responsibly. Otherwise we'd have working roads and rails, educated and healthy citizens, less hunger and homelessness.