Why do modern states tax their citizens? Apart from states needing revenue and taxes serving as a revenue tool, taxes have a far larger role in states characterised by participatory politics and constitutional rights. Taxes embody taxpayers’ investment in an elected government to perform mandated functions and produce a social return. In an ideal world the social return of taxes would be that they pay for a civilised society that looks after its poor, builds infrastructure and keeps its citizens safe from harm and injustice. Realistically , the precise form the expected return on taxes would take is highly context dependent. For instance, in high-tax Scandinavian jurisdictions taxpayers benefit directly from their taxes through lifetime access to public services and social protection, somewhat like state-enforced saving for taxpayers’ future consumption.