This conversation about taxes, and specifically green taxes, is common among my friends. I'm European, so an American should understand that we have a different concept of the state than you do. I don't see taxes as inherently bad, but rather how they're used, and that's what more and more people in Europe are starting to question.
When someone tells you that healthcare and education are free in Europe, just ask them how much they pay in taxes each year. Nothing in life is free.
Image IA
Since common taxes are so high that it's difficult to raise them further in Europe, green taxes have proliferated in recent years. It's that old saying, "the polluter pays." These taxes started as something small that mainly affected large polluting companies and had a certain level of popularity. But in recent years, they've spread to the entire population, and we all pay the famous green taxes now. And it doesn't matter what you do; whether you pollute or not, you'll pay these taxes anyway. Although the revenue from these taxes is supposedly going to protect the environment, this is, of course, not true. For example, in my country there's a single treasury where all state revenue goes, and the government then spends it as it sees fit. The truth is that these taxes are just another way to continue expanding the size of European states, and especially the European Parliament. The environment won't receive a single cent from them.