It's almost as if; if you are residing in a territory with a pre-established common defense "a state" you are consuming the products of that state ( peace, law enforcement, jails, court systems, enforcement of property rights) The taxes the state forces you to pay uphold that system... if the state didn't force everyone to pay the commons defense would collapse due to the tragedy of the commons and the free-rider problem. It sucks to pay taxes... it sucks waaaayyyyyy harder to live in a lawless society without private property
Discussion
the degree to which you can say private property is protected varies pretty widely and this redistribution of coercively collected, and often legally grey taxation has reached a level in most places now where it's hard to say that private property is being respected at all anymore.
most of europe is sliding fast down the hole into communism via progressive increases in taxation and regulation.
I agree, it's a dirty slimely compromise... it's like the old saying: What's the difference between protection and extortion? The price.
Willingness to participate.
rationalising also, the whole "price of civilised society" hooey, when there's nothing civilised about coercion and extortion.
That is the crux... the Hobbs idea of the consent of the governed being false: we are born and coerced into these systems. I think the Amish hold the key to making the Hobbs idea true: Rumspringa. I think when a child turns 18 they are kicked out of society for a period of time and to return they must sign a literal social contract. Also you can sue the government for damages based upon the contract.
Taxes don't pay for the system, deficit spending and fractional reserve banking pays for it. Taxes are a reminder of who has leverage over the citizens.
Law Enforcement, Jails, and Court Systems are the monopolization of Justice procurement.
There are no free-riders with a private property oriented society. Welfare spending and Political Entrepreneurship is the definition of free-riding, which is the status quo at the moment.
I agree... there are no free-riders with a 100% individual based private property system: you show weakness, you lose the ability to defend your property with force, you will be slaughtered and your property will be taken... gorillas practice this system... zero free-riders. It's not a civil society; it's jungle law.
Hell, I just realized even the lioness on the savanahs are more conceptually advanced than the edgelord libertarians... the lioness pay the male lion solely to do nothing but to provide protection over their private property (lion cubs) so another male doesn't come in and kill them