The only countries on this planet that can afford to stay afloat without some type of direct income tax system and are not third world standard are those with so much oil or other natural reserves that they don't know what to do with it all. Taxes fund literally all the infrastructure you see in a modern country, either directly or through giant subsidies. Over here in Australia, things that the government directly funds include public schooling, road and rail infrastructure, defence, social welfare, disability advantage schemes, police services and protection, healthcare and public sector health services as well as many other things I care not to mention. I haven't even begun to mention what the government subsidises, which includes university education - for those who are not from Australia, the government pays for upwards of 80% of your university degree over here. So instead of leaving university with a debt of over 150k to study something like Engineering or Medicine, it's more like 30k. The government also heavily funds public transportation including bus and train services. Prescription drugs are also heavily subsidised by the government, so if you're in need of a rare drug to combat an ailment you're not going to have to fork out over $100 for a box of tablets, the price is set at a compulsory ceiling of $20 or something around that. Go on to google and search up how the government actually spends your tax money instead of being a cynical bastard and loudly crying "-blam!- THE SYSTEM". It's true, sometimes people disagree on some areas of spending but lets be honest, most countries budgets have it right most of the time, otherwise they wouldn't be in the state they are. Just imagine if everything were to become privatised hypothetically. Sure, you wouldn't have to pay taxes but the price of certain services would rise dramatically. How would a police force be funded? Pay a monthly fee otherwise they don't answer your emergency calls? Maybe you'd have to fork out a $1000 bill every time you needed their services. Same goes for the fire department, or public health. Social welfare would go out the window, people who hit the poverty line would have no hope on ever climbing out of the hole they've fallen in because the system primarily funded on tax payer money would have disappeared. The amount of homeless people would skyrocket and generally this is a bad thing (if you have some sense in your head). Those are just two examples of the things that would collapse if taxation was abolished, there are many more. Take your pick!