Being generous is completely different from getting scammed. For example, one can be generous by not bargaining it the price is within affluent standards. One can however be scammed by being taken for a useless long taxi ride. The point is to reward the good and prevent the bad. It depends on whether you see yourself as a force for good in this world or not.

Tipping culture is a distortion of what tipping should be. Tipping should be a reward for "unexpectedly extraordinary" service - this by definition is a rare occurrence.

The government doesn't ask me when it prints money to pay the interest on its debt. It applies this inflation tax regardless of how much income tax one pays, which compounds hugely over the years. It is in this way the biggest scammer, and I believe I already declared my lack of support for scammers.

Sounds like we mostly agree.

I dislike scammers, and when travelling I practice my skills at recognising them. I'm okay at avoiding getting targeted (using a variety of techniques).

If scammers are feeding their families, and relatively rich tourists are sufficiently incautious, then I don't have huge sympathy for the tourists. The rules of the street are everywhere in the world.

I don't support drug users in my home town either.

Of course I've run into many selfish arsehole scammers including ones with their police on thier side.

Options against bent cops in foreign countries are more limited.

But yes, my government always wants to increase taxation, and they are rather deceptive about everything.

But I pay my taxes and I'm mostly okay with what it is used for. Without our social and legal infrastructure, I wouldn't have got anything.