Taxes are just the representation of the social contract, and the easiest way to facilitate it without forcing people into performing labor against their will.

Some taxes are good, some are bad, it depends on the context- What is being taxed and what is the money being used for? For example, sin taxes. I would consider these 'bad' taxes, because even though they go toward a good cause (for example, cigarette taxes go toward health care), they're a regressive tax. It's one of those things that produces less and less revenue and now the program that it's being paid for doesn't have enough funding. There's even been proposed an increase in the federal cigarette tax because it isn't pulling in enough revenue anymore.

Sin taxes don't socially engineer bad habits away, they just make the users destitute. This usually disproportionally affects poor people because they tend to rely on these things just so they're not completely miserable.

There are good taxes as well, and they're usually progressive. Your premise is too black-and-white to be taken seriously.