I'm not saying I'm happy with how all of my taxes are spent and I'm also aware that you will have a field day with this post. Just sayin' that's how I deal with my middle class tax bracket. 

Precisely.

Charities worthy of the name spend at least 85% of their income on the charitable activity itself and 15% or less on administrative costs. Most spend more like 90% to 95%... And even 97% is not unheard of. Any charity which spends a worse rate than that will be immediately watched very closely and often downright called a scam.

Government spends more like 20% on the program itself and 80% on administrative costs. Almost the opposite rates of what charity does. I've seriously heard a target of 35% for government programs be called impossible and utopian.

All throughout history, religions used to charge tithes at 10%. This is the customary rate in Judaism and Christianity and there are similar precedents in Dharmic religions. Islamic rules are more complex (tithing zakat at different rates depending on the source of income) but most real world income would probably pay 10% too.

This is why paying half your income for 20% of what you pay to actually be used for a good purpose is a scam.






Cuteness is to die for
Cuteness cannot fail
Cuteness knows no limit
Cuteness will prevail