The point is, people give up on thinking about greater societal good and it becomes everybody for themselves. Paying taxes is basically charity for rest of popu

The point is, people give up on thinking about greater societal good and it becomes everybody for themselves. Paying taxes is basically charity for rest of population of given state, where you don't get anything immediately back, but hope for overall well being. I don't think people in the west understand how dysfunctional society can be if corruption is everywhere. If somebody from Sweden states how he is happy about being taxed because he/she sees the results, thats great. It doesn't mean anything for place like Russia where you simply don't see much coming back to you from state, but you very clearly see how some corrupt / well connected / mafia are getting back most of it.