It does seem to me that you have this the wrong way round. The responsibility to provide child and elderly care is first and foremost that of the parents (child care) and the adult children (elderly care). In most societies, as individuals, they may choose to shift this responsibility to the state. And the state (in a democracy this means the majority of adults) may recogniise that to do so is beneficial, but it is not a given. BTW, those of us eldelry citizens, like me, who have pensions, pay tax! If you think about it, sales taxes mean that everyone pays tax.