Do you agree that our taxes are just wasted?

How many people out there have worked out what they get back for the taxes they pay (UK only)? I figured, i dont use the library, the taxes i paid in the first 5 years paid for my education, roads should be covered by tax disc, i have private health, the older people in my family had to sell their homes to fund their retirement and care. So the way I see it - im just getting 2 things, protection from police/military/fire brigade (fantasic people) and rubbish collection (who now only collect once every 2 weeks!). This isnt a mindless "i dont want to pay tax" statement - I know there there needs to be a social safety net for less fortunate and maybe myself in future - but it seems very very very expensive. What does everyone else think?

"Like mothers, taxes are often misunderstood, but seldom forgotten.'' 鈥?Lord Bramwell, 19th Century English jurist

One needs a broader perspective to understand taxes. Not just roads, but universities, research, army, navy, space, Health care and what not has to be funded. Parks has to be maintained. Schools for children are subsidized. Check the video for tax defined by many other famous personalities

You seem to be referring mainly to local authority spending, although, it is often not realised that 75% of their expenditure, on average, comes directly from Central Government and only 25% from Council and Business tax.

It isn't so much that basic Local Authority services aren't required, although there is considerable doubt about all the money that is spent on meddling PC activities etc, but that there is a lack of transparency in comparing what you get for what you pay. Local Authorities are almost bound to be inefficient, because they don't have to compete in the market place on the basis of price and efficiency like the 'Private Sector'. Once you sweep everything under the umbrella that is taxation, the sense of value for money that you get when you buy services in the market place, is lost.

I would be in favour of charging some Local Authority services direct to the users, perhaps taking them out of L/A control. This would have the advantage of only charging those that used them, and it would test whether there was sufficient demand for them at the price charged. IE this would also bring efficiency into the equation.

We all know that L/A are highly politicised, Unionised, buraucratic, riddled with inertia, resistent to change etc.

Interestingly, the Community Charge was an attempt to link what you get for what you pay for, and it also recognised that it is individuals that consume resources, and not property. The Unions weren't having this, makes them too accountable.

I do BUT it's not for taxpayers to prove that collected tax is wasted It's up to the tax collectors to prove that they have spent our money on what they said they would spend it on and to prove it has achieved the benefits they promised.Or else they should stop taxing.Mind you no-one will ever say "No" to ending child poverty but it will never end as the defintion is under 60% of average earnings.So it's a a con.Life time employment for the new bourgeoisie.

Tax was originally levied to pay for wars.After 1945 it was hiked up to pay for the welfare state BUT on the basis that you were entitled to take out because you had paid in.Just like it said on the can - social insurance.

Now that the welfare state has grown it is an industry run by the professional middle classes.Benefits are no longer related to contributions.Now the only people who do not see the connection between contribution and entitlement are those who work for the public sector - are welfare state dependents (including public sector workers in the welfare stae industry ) or too rich to be bothered.

Come to a working class neigbourhood for a pint one night and ask working class people ( we stil exist) what they think of where their money is going and whether its value for money.

I agree, it's unfair that our local councils are telling us they are forced to increase Council Tax because the Goverment ke