Idleness and pride tax with a heavier hand than kings and parliaments. If we can get rid of the former, we may easily bear the latter.

The costs you complain about loudest are rarely the ones taking the most from you. What you lose to hours drifting away and to the expense of keeping up appearances will generally exceed anything a government takes, and unlike a government it sends no bill you can point at. That is what makes it easy to ignore. Reduce those two and the official burdens stop feeling unbearable.

Total up honestly what last month went to looking successful rather than being comfortable. Do the same for the hours that went nowhere in particular. You will get further arguing with those two numbers than with the ones on your tax return.