John could have told the tax collectors to stop collecting taxes, but he didn't. It implies that the only wrong they were doing was collecting more than they were authorized to, not the collection of taxes itself.
Jesus also didn't tell tax collectors to stop what they were doing. He did call one of them to be His disciple, Matthew, and perhaps he left his job. Another tax collector, Zacchaeus, repented of taking more than he should have, but it doesn't say that he left his line of work.
I still believe taxation is immoral and unjust, as it involves taking property by coercion and force, rather than voluntary means. Just because Caesar/the government says something is theirs doesn't necessarily make it so, right?
Taxation is probably one of those evils, like slavery, that Christianity did not immediately abolish, but that has to gradually be purged out of human behavior, as the Gospel permeates the world. "Thou shalt not steal," it's pretty basic, one of the Big Ten Commandments, yet people still don't get it, after nearly three and a half millennia! "Do not murder" is another one, and yet people who see themselves as "enlightened" and "progressive" still argue for their "right" to do so today...😩
