Taxes are not donations. Your example of religions is also suspect. To be blunt we perceive it that way in places and times where established Churches are lega

Taxes are not donations. Your example of religions is also suspect. To be blunt we perceive it that way in places and times where established Churches are legally independent and separate from the government. It’s not always and often isn’t true, or at least isn’t the case by default in some places. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_tax https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_tax https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tithe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tithe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zakat https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zakat https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jizya https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jizya Compare and contrast with Alms, the more charitable less compulsory concept: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alms https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alms Just one more reason to love separation of Church and State and the prohibition on Congress on making laws respecting an establishment of religion.