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Originally Posted by Praxus
Since when did "need", whatever that means in this context, justify theft?
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I'll rephrase that. We don't pay taxes just to gain the right to vote, we pay taxes for the priviledge of living in a relatively secure society with all the services, priviledges and benefits that that entails.
Since we pay for the benefit of living here, there are two things the government can do, one is not allow people who don't want to pay taxes to live here. In other words kick them out. Since the government can't do that, it has to force people who do live here to pay taxes.
How much you pay has several philosophical factors determining it. One is how much how can afford to pay and an other is how much you benefit from society.
For a (crude) example from Rome, the Patricians and other nobles payed to give the plebeians a grain dole, and in return the plebs refrained from lynching the rich and stealing their money. The Patrician pays more because he has more to gain(not being lynched and robbed) than the plebeian (not being allowed lynching the rich guy and being allowed a subsistence diet) from society.