Colin has it about right in my opinion. Taxation is necessary because we must have some social constructs that bind us together and promote an ordered society. The problem is too much taxation.....confiscatory taxation. How do we collectively decide how much is too much? I believe that the larger the government the more waste becomes an issue. Said another way, tax dollars are best spent close to home by the smallest possible taxing authorities. That is true because the people have direct oversight of where their tax dollars got spent. The federal leviathan is too big to spend tax dollars wisely.