First, thanks for your service. You are a great American.\n\nI see where you're coming from with the Parking Meter thing. Yes, part of your tax dollars went to pay for the streets, but not all streets have parking meters/permits. Some are free to park on, some it is illegal to park on.\n\nBy making people buy permits to park on a particular street or neighborhood the local government might be trying to serve the residents of that neighborhood by limiting who parks on the street. By putting up parking meters, a city government might be trying to help local merchants by forcing a turnover of parking spots so that more customers can find parking.\n\nThere can be lots of reasons for local governments to do such things, not the least of which is to generate additional revenue to pay for city services. The real disgrace comes when the local governments are inept or corrupt and do not spend our money wisely.