To maintain the road, fire dept, and local govt. Govt is not all bad. I'm renting a singlewide trailer and my nextdoor neighbor has a rat infestation. The town has started the process of Eminent Domain to kick them out. The neighbors are panicking which led them to start cleaning up their garbage. Taxes paid for it all. If i killed my neighbor the garbage would still be there AND i would live next to his widow/orphans.