How I Learned to Stop Worrying and ♥ the Tax

This commentary showed up on APM's Marketplace yesterday:

I love taxes. When I pay my taxes I am telling my community I value you.
...
If we are saying "I value you" when we pay our taxes, what are the people and corporations who don't pay all their taxes saying? Are they saying the opposite? Are they saying that all those people who do so much for us every day don't matter?

Exactly. I would add, What about the politicians who campaign on the idea that taxes are evil and my fellow citizens who, like lemmings, would follow those politicians off that cliff selfishly to keep a few extra shekels in their pockets? It's not all about the welfare state. It's not just about distributive justice. There is a public good.