A society requires governance. Staff to set and enforce rules, staff and supplies to execute services which provide social and physical infrastructure.
Certain things every community needs: Healthcare, education, transportation, utilities, support services for special needs, safety, rehabilitation for rule breakers, etc.
A government can figure out how to provide these services (with in-house or out-sourced expertise) and provide you with one bill (taxes). Or they can privatize a service, meaning you still need it and they may regulate it, but you’ll be paying someone else for that service.
The value of taxes should be considered in this light. How much do I pay for all the services me and my community needs, and what portion of that is taxes. Then compare to other countries to see how well our governance system is functioning.
Does privatization save cost? What balance of regulation keeps things affordable vs driving up expenses? What balance of in-house expertise vs outsourcing is the most functional? What is the cost to quality of life having to pay bills to 15 organizations vs one? Where is there an extra heavy burden of cost and what can we do through regulation to fix it? These are the questions we should be interested in when it comes to governance, an elected official’s personality or opinions should be negligible factors.
I pretty much agree, taxation is only theft in america, and the only reason for that is because we are getting anything for our taxes outside of a bunch of dead third world children. Which doesn’t really help me put food in my stomach, or treat the stuff in my brain that causes memory problems and could possibly kill me when I turn 40.
