Taxes are a scam in the sense that they give people the sense they are paying them for their own good.
If I could give an honest, accurate definition of taxation, it'd be:
Taxes are the inevitable phenomenon when the possibility for coercion and theft on scale allows the land conquerors for material benefit that far outweighs the benefit of engaging in voluntary exchange.
Taxes are a scam in the sense that they give people the sense they are paying them for their own good.
If I could give an honest, accurate definition of taxation, it'd be:
Taxes are the inevitable phenomenon when the possibility for coercion and theft on scale allows the land conquerors for material benefit that far outweighs the benefit of engaging in voluntary exchange.