Where do you want to live? UK or Somalia?

The right wing narrative in the UK at the moment seems to be:
Little government intervention = good
Taxes = evil
No taxes = good
I've been musing on these points recently and came across a posting in a blog I follow from George Clifford,an Episcopalian minister in the USA. If you are interested in issues of ethics and morality, I commend his blog to you. George's posting struck a chord and I've taken the liberty of developing his theme from a UK perspective.

George starts by relating a story:
Grover Norquist, the president of Americans for Tax Reform (an anti-tax lobby), asked a millionaire visiting the U.S. Capitol, “Who can best spend your money, the government or you?” The millionaire was part of a group of high-earners visiting members of Congress to lobby for higher taxes on high earners. The quick thinking millionaire remarked that if Norquist wanted to avoid paying taxes, he should exchange his citizenship for Somalia citizenship and move there since Somalia has no income tax.
George then asks the question:
Where do you want to live, Somalia or the United States?
Let's cross the Atlantic and rephrase the question:
Where do you want to live, Somalia or the UK?

For me, there is absolutely no choice. I want to live right here in the UK (even with Cameron and Clegg in charge). I enjoy the benefits of living in a society in which the rule of law prevails, rights and freedoms are respected and most social services are provided (at least for the present but beware the future!). I am of sound mind but I am both happy and grateful to pay my taxes. Most of what the government provides, I could not provide on my own. And it's an ideological nonsense to believe that the private sector can always provide the same things cheaper and better. It can't and it doesn't. Running social services as profit centres and regarding those who use the services as costs to be minimised does not work. Witness the appalling report today on standards of care of the elderly. Witness the way the railway system has performed since it was privatised.

Does the government need to take better control of its finances? Of course it does. But it should not do this at the expense of those who have no alternative other than to pay. If only they used as much energy and noise pursuing tax evaders and closing tax loopholes as they do in tackling benefit fraud.