"I was able to cut the amount I owed in half,"
If you can do that for me, I'll give you 25%. I'm in the 22% tax bracket. My wife and I are retired, but we both work part time. For 25 years I put 12% of my biweekly paycheck into a Thrift Savings Program. Also a 529 College fund. I was very fortunate to be able to do this.
I considered it an investment. So did the government. Now the TSP is an income source which hasn't yet been taxed. My SS is taxed and my pension is taxed. We payed over $30k in taxes last year, and that doesn't include state or county taxes. I do pay quarterly estimated payments. It's an alternative to having more taxes taken out of the income source. If I didn't do that, I would have to pay an annual penalty for depriving the government of its taxes in a timely manner. I don't have a problem paying taxes, until I see how the government spends my tax dollars. My country is surrounded by two big friendly oceans and relatively friendly nations north and south. How do we appreciate that? We arm 750 military bases around the globe so we have the option of bombing anyone anywhere. Northern European nations have high taxes, but provide health care and education to their citizens. I wish I could say my tax contributions provide health care and education. I look at the environmental destruction caused by 10 years of war in Vietnam and think...my taxes paid for that. I wish someone else's taxes had paid for my education. I had to use the GI bill, which is exactly what they wanted.