I think everyone inherently understands that taxes are a part of life and they buy us stuff that we need. I think when people complain about having to pay so much of their income it's because they don't understand where the money is going or think it's being spent on things that they don't consider important. After all, most industrialized countries pay a much higher portion of their income in tax.

So, my idea is that you still have to pay the same amount for taxes (30 % of your income or whatever it is for you), but you get to decide how much goes to different government programs. You would just fill out a form when you did your taxes and say "I want 10% to go to education, 20% to defense" ...or whatever.

There would probably have to be a minimum amount you could contribute to certain programs but you would have much more control. This way people could feel like the were getting value out of their tax money, and they could choose not to contribute to things they thought were unimportant, like bombs or DEA agents :)