// Everybody, from the Queen downwards, has an absolute duty to minimise the amount they are obliged to pay to the State. ... Similarly everybody has an obligation to minimise the State's involvement in their daily affairs as far as possible. //
This seems at best a political position, rather than an absolute truth. Historically, it is true, the role of the State was often fairly minimal, being confined to foreign diplomacy and raising armies (and, on occasion, taxes to fund said armies). But an increase in the focus of the State on other matters has gone hand-in-hand with a more general improvement in quality of life -- by no means is it the only factor, of course, but it's certainly no accident that, for example, State pensions and State benefits have reduced the occurrence of absolute poverty.