If you live in Europe, the United States, or Canada then the biggest threat to your wealth is right in front of your nose.

It's a faceless man that comes around to your house every year, demanding 50% or more of your annual income. If you refuse to fork over the allotted sum by an arbitrary deadline date, then this faceless man will start to charge you exorbitant fees and penalties on your outstanding fees.

If you continue to ignore these increasingly aggressive demands for compensation, then he will call in some goons in blue outfits to take you from your home and lock you up in a tiny cell until you learn to get with the program and pay up. Failing that, they'll just take the home itself and consider the transaction even.

I'm not describing some elaborately organized crime racket here; this is essentially how every federal and state taxation system works.

Forget Everything You Think You Know About Taxes

Now, proponents of the social safety net may claim that taxes are designed to redistribute wealth and provide for public services such as transport, education, and defense. But between layers of government red tape, systematic inefficiencies, powerful lobbyists, and corrupt officials how many of those tax dollars actually end up going towards infrastructure investments?