I'd rather pay 10% more in Taxes than lose 10% of my (or my countrymens) freedom

[Kralizec]

As far as I know, nobody here would dispute that the government should punish crimes as defined by law or that courts should ensure that contractual obligations are honoured. This should show that it's false to say more taxes = less freedom, unless you interpret "freedom" as meaning anarchy in popular usage. It also shows that there's no razorsharp line between what people call positive and negative freedom.

Freedom means something different to starving, illiterate Egyptian farmers in need of medical treatment than it does for Euro/American middle class families. The latter are capable of taking care of themselves and would probably like to be free from the government. If the first is told on how lucky he is to be left alone by the government, well...

That said, I do believe that there's a point where an increase in government spending won't result in more freedom for anyone. The government should ensure equality of opportunity and let every citizen pursue his own happiness. Since western countries have already reached that point, I don't think that there's any good reason to raise taxes further. If money is needed for genuinely, unforeseen needs than the government should just stop wasting some money on people who don't need it and deserve it.