“The state can put its taxes to either a good or a bad use. It puts them to a good use when it performs services for the public equivalent to the value it receives from the public. It puts them to a bad use when it squanders its revenues without giving the public anything in return.”
Frédéric Bastiat, from Economic Sophisms (included in the Laissez Faire Books ebook edition, What Is Seen and What Is Not Seen, 2014)