I think about this from time to time. If the government, which basically runs on taxes, cannot be trusted to take care of the people, but there aren't many alternatives, and their programs are becoming more and more ineffective...should we listen when they say they need more tax revenue?

On the one hand, things like social security, disability, medicare/aid, education, highway safety, military defense, etc., are paid for with taxes, and all of those things except for military are suffering or inadequate. People on fixed incomes cannot afford to live anywhere. Public education is notoriously underfunded and constantly under attack. Infrastructure in this country is decades behind maintenance. Healthcare has been hijacked by for-profit interests to the point where thousands of people die every year not because they couldn't be treated, but because they couldn't pay.

On the other hand, if we dismantled those programs and allowed the public sector to attempt to fill the gaps, corporate interests would misalign with humanitarian challenges, and arguably things would get much worse. It's sort of a damned if you do, damned if you don't scenario. I'd gladly pay a higher percentage of taxes if (1) rich people had to, too, and (2) those taxes were actually used for the things we so desperately need if we don't wish to become some sort of hellscape.

At this point, I don't know what government could do to regain trust from the people, but not trusting them at all would leave us in the hands of the oligarchs, whose solutions would in all likelihood be much more calculating and cruel. Ooh, look, something shiny!