When I was in high school I had half a year of "civics class", which was pretty pathetic (and miserable to endure - I had classmates who would literally howl to prevent anyone from asking or answering questions in class!). The only two lessons I retained about voting was that women weren't always allowed to do so (and it was wonderful that women could vote now) and that one person's vote didn't matter, but we had to all pretend that everyone's vote mattered, otherwise nobody would vote and the government would simply cease to exist. As far as taxation went, well, government was inefficient and politicians were greedy but it was important to pay taxes anyway.

If my experience was anything like representative, I think it explains at least some of the American attitude towards taxes and voting.