The thing that irks me about this sort of presentation is that it presumes the government is entitled to money that is currently in the hands of private citizen

The thing that irks me about this sort of presentation is that it presumes the government is entitled to money that is currently in the hands of private citizens. The reality of taxes is that the government decides how much money to confiscate from individuals who have earned it. Phrasing taxes not collected as a cost is just silly. You would laugh at a charity telling you you are costing them 10's of thousands of dollars a year because you don't donate x% of your income to them, but when it's the government, this line of thinking is seemingly OK. Because of the way the tax code is, there are always loopholes like vacation home deductions and such. The US decided long ago that it wanted to use the tax code to influence personal behavior as well as generate revenue. The result is a complex morass of goop that makes it difficult for the government to budget and results in unintended consequences. People will always look for ways to legally reduce their tax burden.