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To claim any tax is a “scam” is to misunderstand tax.

Maybe by a strict/legal definition of scam, but you can easily imagine taxes that fit colloquial usage. Anything where the government is dishonest about the motivations behind the tax or how it will be used.

What like income tax, a "temporary tax to pay for the war"? (Napoleonic then Crimean for the UK, WW1 for the US)

Still there 200+ years later in the UK, 100 years later in the US. Technically in the UK it still is a temporary tax, renewed every April 5th.

I am emphatically not against income tax. Regardless of whether or not there was honesty.

Can you explain why you think it's a scam?

No, the tax makes sense, buying and selling carbon offsets is the scam. We tried it before and it made people alike Al Gore billionaires, but was definitely a huge scam and resulting in nothing but the public getting fleeced and did jack and shite to reduce CO2.