If we're nitpicking, it's the result of a transaction. Granted it's a transaction you're not opting out of, but it's still an exchange of service for payment.

If we're nitpicking, it's the result of a transaction. Granted it's a transaction you're not opting out of, but it's still an exchange of service for payment. By any other measure in a transaction that money ceases to be yours and becomes theirs. We can argue the merits of income tax or taxation in general, but in our (and many similar) systems, it's not your money if you wish to live in the country and thus partake in this transaction.