Oh, I've got more, MB, much more.
I rather seriously doubt an urban taxpayer in the city of Average, USA, is willing to pay a contract on the side for having the snow plowed off the streets and salt spread vs. letting it simply be part of their property taxes. They would be the same people screaming bloody murder if those snow-covered roads weren't cleared posthaste. The same goes for that fire department or ambulance visit. Pay-as-you-go taxes could be a royal pain in the posterior once you start actually, you know, using such services.
The city came by my house the other day to replace a broken wheel on my 95-gallon recycling bin. I watched as the recycling truck snapped it cleanly off thanks to operator technique. What do you suppose that service call would've cost me had it been billed seperately, vs. being part of the city's yearly O&M budget? I was one scheduled stop on the city worker's route that day, vs. a separate trip, a smart move on the part of the city. I'm not a big fan of socialism, but I'd like to think my city taxes that day were used in an efficient manner.
When I was living on beachside Florida until 2006, we lost a good portion of the beach between my house and the ocean due to heavy erosion from the repeated hurricanes. Beach replenishment was a huge topic, people didn't want their property values on beachside homes to plummet due to lack of beach, but were aghast at the tax cost of the county and/or state bringing in more sand. Of course, had they hired a contractor themselves...
You really can't have your cake and eat it too. I'd love to think my yearly income taxes buy bologna sandwiches for the military, but I know my paltry tax burden wouldn't even buy them individual packets of mustard. That's also why I find it hilarious when people demand excess government property be given to them because "they bought it with their tax dollars". Yeah, and after your tax dollars bought some Depends for an incontinent old dude somewhere on Medicare, paid somebody else's Social Security, added a new piece to Barney Frank's buttplug collection, a case of baby formula for Octomom, military aid for Israel, and a bailout package for Wall Street, there might be enough left to chip some paint off a Humvee and send it in an envelope to you.