I just have one big problem with the "service fee" thing. The law (in the West) is (mostly) a set of contracts between the government and individuals. Taxes are

I just have one big problem with the "service fee" thing. The law (in the West) is (mostly) a set of contracts between the government and individuals. Taxes are one of the main obligations of the individuals, and they're part of this contract. There are of course other sides to the contract. Where I'm from one of the other sides is inflation-adjusted pensions. I work just like everybody else did, future and past. Yet I do not have the right to inflation adjusted pensions anymore. Now that contract, when I read it at age 20, really did not seem to leave any leeway to cancel them, but of course the state is sovereign. No matter how (legally) solid a promise or contract, the state is under no obligation to execute it (not even for people who are current pensioners, and have very little power in the current system. The ones that trusted the government to hold up it's end of the bargain got screwed. Some got screwed, aged 70 or so, and became homeless. I knew one of those). That event has opened my eyes. What I'm paying taxes for, ~40% goes to paying pension, both of which are getting canceled. Another 50%+ goes to national health insurance and unemployment insurance (I'm in Europe), and in Brussels it is obvious that this part of the system is collapsing, but is also begin used as "bread and circuses" for most of the inner-city population, leading to fast growth. People blame immigration for this, and while that's a significant chunk, the root of the problem is that low-paying jobs are a lot worse than unemployment to any rational person. They're much more likely to demand overtime and extra work than high-paying ones, and the commute costs money, and the whole thing is just so much more stressful than actually doing something. So there's 2 factors here that I find most offensive about taxes. First, I'm being held to tax law, but the government is not being held to it's promises (like my pension). Second, the government has created a feedback loop that uses my taxes and makes people dependent, brought the whole thing close to the breaking point, and expects me to pay for it. Screw them. This is not rational on any level. Sorry. I do not volunteer my time on one-sided contracts, where the other side has zero intention to fulfill it's end of the bargain. Whatever I can do to lower my taxes, I do. And I don't consider it morally dubious even. Whatever one can do to make this bread-circus system collapse faster should be done, for the longer it takes the bigger the suffering will be.