<i>&gt; You think it&#x27;s more civilized, I think it&#x27;s barbaric to forcefully take something from someone.</i><p>Nothing described in the post to which you replied is being forcefully taken from anyone. You live in a society. That society has a social contract, accepted in aggregate by its citizens and periodically subject to shifts--some of them that you may prefer, others that you may not. You cannot unilaterally renegotiate this contract, but you can choose to leave if you don&#x27;t want to uphold your end of the social contract--literally nobody is stopping you from doing so! If you&#x27;re an American, renouncing your citizenship is a very easy act that can be done at, IIRC, any consulate. You need not be under the onerous burden of that social contract and its (frankly, meager) expectations of you if you choose not to be.<p>But, statistically, it&#x27;s almost certain that you won&#x27;t choose not to be. Because even the very, very rich benefit from statefulness and membership in a functioning society.