Wow, "the fact that some of the money is given away by politicians as gifts rather than kept for themselves doesn't change the fact that taxation is theft". I think a tear ran down my face. The American revolution was in large part started over a 3% sales tax on tea. Can you imagine that, 3%. What would the men who died in that revolution think of our government today? The problem is that taxation has been normalized to the mindless masses. If 100 of the same people were dropped on an island together and 1 of them took out a gun and said give me your money, I am collecting taxes; everyone would realize what a psychopathic practice taxation is. People who fail to understand morals believe that taxation is a form of altruism. Forcing others to hand over their property at threat of imprisonment can never be altruistic. It is tyranny, and the people who advocate for it have a form of psychopathy. The notion that they are not able to recognize the type of violent tyranny they routinely advocate for.