I upvoted you because you are right. I will never understand the excitement of the Hacker News community to pay a 50% penalty to the worst type of people on earth, those that do not produce.
It's the same excitement that I feel when I visit a relative in hospital and see they're taken care of without going bankrupt, when I take my kids to schools that my taxes paid for, on roads that my taxes paid for, in a country that isn't 10 meters under water because of the taxes that I paid in a place where poverty is reasonably rare (though not yet completely eradicated) and where because of that it is pretty safe to live and so on.
And what have those Romans ever done for us anyway?
What, you wouldn't like a world where you can only drive on the roads you pay for, as part of your AppleWay™ subscription? Not to be confused with the roads available on GoogleMotor™, of course! But there would be some interoperability: every pedestrian crossing would support the Microsoft Nickel&Dime™ system, so you can pay to enable the crossing. No more would we be slaves of those irresponsible elected bureaucrats, but rather conscious consumers making informed choices between different companies!
You don't have a safety net. You have interest payments on the Iraq War, Gulf War, Afghanistan War, GFC bailouts, HN bank bailout (SVC), and mountains and mountains of past spending. It will be 100% of the budget in not too long.
And what have those Romans ever done for us anyway?