So it might not be the best source, but Levitt & Dubner (in their latest Times Magazine piece) cite a poll saying that Americans just might understand Holmes’ notion that “taxes are the price we pay for civilization”:

bq. In an independent poll conducted last year for the I.R.S. Oversight Board, 96 percent of the respondents agreed with the statement “It is every American’s civic duty to pay their fair share of taxes,” while 93 percent agreed that everyone “who cheats on their taxes should be held accountable.”