In the modern world, the state is a kind of souped up business. That’s why we’re all "taxpayers" instead of "citizens." "Taxpayer" reframes policy outcomes as a kind of customer-loyalty perk. If your taxes are the locus of your relationship with the state, then people who don’t pay taxes — people too young, old, disabled, or unlucky to be working — are not entitled to policy outcomes that reflect their needs.
Cory Doctorow – Standardized testing and schools as factories: Louis CK versus Common Core [Boing Boing]