Where do you live that doesn’t have taxes? Also 40-45% is extremely high for the US. Perhaps you’re misunderstanding how marginal tax rates work?
For a $500k income in CA
29.59% Federal Income Tax
+ 10.48% CA Income Tax
+ 1.59% Social Security
+ 1.99% Medicate
----------------------------
= 43.65% total tax rate.
Should be roughly 42% pre-deductions/writeoffs.
...But in truth, if you're making around the $500k ballpark, you're doing pretty well financially.
Also yes; just pay the tax, and then some. It helps everyone. If the country is sane in terms of politics of course, and doesn't have the military as its biggest expense. That makes it clear they're more concerned with international affairs than their own people.
But: 42% is the effective tax rate (not marginal, average). And this is pretty close to 45%. For a hypothetical person making $500k or more as regular income in CA (as many of the posted salaries above would be), they would indeed pay about $210k in taxes plus Medicare plus Social Security.
For lower income levels than that, or if you're married, or live in a state with lower state taxes, the numbers look much better.