Seems pretty simple: tax the users of the infrastructure (roads, electricity, etc.) to pay for it, tax the recipients of education (parents, students) to pay fo

Seems pretty simple: tax the users of the infrastructure (roads, electricity, etc.) to pay for it, tax the recipients of education (parents, students) to pay for that. Tax everyone to pay for the rule of law (courts, police) because as you say, we all benefit. This would leave the vast majority of the budget to give back to taxpayers. Mostly various mandatory insurance schemes - healthcare, unemployment, labour law, old age security - which are the ones I'm objecting to. Before widespread public education, large companies would sponsor the education of the engineers they needed (think locomotives), with contractual obligations to work for the organization for a certain time or repay the cost of education. This is how military college works today, and seems pretty high-functioning. > exactly where you draw the line Pretty easy, once you've paid for all the stuff you directly use, the rest is yours free and clear.