[bluGill]

That is not the state of nature though. There are "primitive" societies that don't organize their village that way. Social pressures and you working alone are enough to protect your property when the total population to worry about is around 100 people.

We use taxes because nature doesn't scale to towns of 1000, much less nations of millions. But that is not the state of nature.

[Wytwwww]

The concept of property (the way we understand it i.e. all the stuff besides of a handful of personal items) is not something that generally exists or existed in "primitive" societies.

i.e. you can't really "own" more land than you and your family can personally farm and extract rent on it without a state to protect your claim.

[TheCoelacanth]

And even much later under feudalism, property as we know it didn't really exist. Land (essentially the only productive asset that existed) was owned by the government, but the government was a loose network of aristocrats instead of a faceless state.

[fluoridation]

You can if you can convince others to protect it for you.