Well the thing with taxes, is in my country, its meant to be spent for the good of the people - ie schools, hospitals, the elderly - the people who need things like education, healthcare and comfort in their old age, and things like infrastructure so we can connect with each other - power/electricity, telecommunications, public transport - rail, buses, ferry.
But it depends on the govt in power what they do with the budget.
So I think it was one Prime Minister Richard Seddon who instigated the Welfare State. This was meant to be active Christian Charity, as he was a Christian and thought that was the practical thing you did with taxes.
He was left wing or liberal as you might call it. When people laboured, they paid a part of their wages as taxes - it automatically comes off your wage in the form of PAYE - pay as your earn. usually its 10 percent. If you don't earn a wage, i.e not a labourer, and earn a salary or other kind of income, you need to calculate your taxes for the given year and pay that according to your tax bracket. So if you earn more or over a certain threshold you pay 25% or 33% or something like that. Industries that made a profit, and that could vary over any given year.
Also we pay GST on goods and services, it used to be 12.5% now its gone up to 15% so anything you bought had the GST added and that part was built into the price of many things. eg everytime you buy something, you pay a tax.
But thing is...a lot of rich people, because they have to pay more relatively because they make so much more than those on wages/fixed incomes, think they shouldn't have to pay tax (especially when they sell a house/property) and try to get tax breaks and vote in govt that cuts tax, so they can spend on other things that may or may not benefit the country. And then essential services, people think its better to hav user pays, and have everyone working so they don't become dependant on welfare.
But that only benefits a small number of people, or the elite who have enough capital to own businesses, not always for the good of the people but whatever makes a profit. And they resent any taxes being spent on the underserved. They reckon no children should have the govt pay for school lunches cos they reckon its the parents responsibility to feed children lunch at school (ie. take your own) and that you need to pay for your own healthcare and medicines and education.
Anyway, the thing is not everyone likes paying tax or what the govt is choosing to spend it on.
Now imagine you on a fixed income (wages are usually set to a certain amount per hour and believe you me businesses often will just pay the bare minimum they can get away with) which barely covers the cost of living..ie food, bills, transport - and you join a church that asks you to tithe your income 10% on top of what you ALREADY pay in taxes.
What are the tithes going towards? Usually its to pay the mortgage and bills and admin of the church. it's not going toward hospitals and schools which are free to everyone regardless of race or creed/religion.
Anyway...I could go on but that's just some of the realities of life (death and taxes) and also, nobody likes the tax collector and everyone has different opinions on what tax should be spent on.
