You're looking at it from an individual/market economy point of view as a transaction (tax for services).
But that's not how the people setting the tax are looking at it. They're thinking about how can we make this country survive, how do we make it prosper, how much money do we need to make that happen, and how do we get that money from the population.
So you should expect to pay for things which are:
* Larger than individual or company scale
* Longer than individual or company lifespan
* Less probable than individuals or companies will consider
* Strategic in some other way that the market economy isn't able to handle
And yeah, a lot of those aren't going to benefit you personally. It's still a good idea for someone to be paying.
The above is an idealisation, and of course there is also waste and corruption to add to the picture, which is probably what you really object to I imagine.
You're looking at it from an individual/market economy point of view as a transaction (tax for services).
But that's not how the people setting the tax are looking at it. They're thinking about how can we make this country survive, how do we make it prosper, how much money do we need to make that happen, and how do we get that money from the population.
So you should expect to pay for things which are:
* Larger than individual or company scale
* Longer than individual or company lifespan
* Less probable than individuals or companies will consider
* Strategic in some other way that the market economy isn't able to handle
And yeah, a lot of those aren't going to benefit you personally. It's still a good idea for someone to be paying.
The above is an idealisation, and of course there is also waste and corruption to add to the picture, which is probably what you really object to I imagine.