I pay over half my total income in taxes. I then pay VAT when I buy stuff with what's left. I've no big problem with the amount of tax I pay though I'd rather see lower taxes on work and higher taxes on wealth. My problem is with how much of our taxes are wasted by State bodies and agencies. This is particularly the case in our extremely well funded health service but applies pretty much across the board. I have no expectation that increasing taxes would result in any material improvement in services or in society.
The discussion should be "Should the State and its employees waste less of our taxes in order to have a better society". The answer to that is an emphatic yes. But please don't just blame the government and the politicians. The problem is thousands of little problems, knitted into the structures of the Civil and Public Sectors and State funded service providers (including the HSE and everyone paid by it). Those people, to a lesser or greater extent, are to blame and are responsible.
