Your example of religions is also suspect. To be blunt we perceive it that way in places and times where established Churches are legally independent and separate from the government. It’s not always and often isn’t true, or at least isn’t the case by default in some places.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_tax
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tithe
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zakat
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jizya
Compare and contrast with Alms, the more charitable less compulsory concept:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alms
Just one more reason to love separation of Church and State and the prohibition on Congress on making laws respecting an establishment of religion.
Not the nicest way to put it but they put in Yeoman’s[1] work and earn it.
"Protection money" means somebody is illegally forcing you to pay for something that you don't want or need, solely to enrich themselves. But it's not illegal if it's literally the foundation of the society.
Democracy is the most expensive system of government. It has to be paid for or it doesn't work. It's paid for with taxes. It's not protection money, it's fuel for a life support system that you and everyone else is hooked up to.
I mean was it legal when the local Baron came and levied a tax on your wheat? Under the King’s laws, or maybe it was just tradition, but if the alternative is you’re killed and your land is taken and given to someone more loyal, then you just had a tax levied upon you and the payment was your life.
Similarly, merchants which snuck into cities rather than paying the tax at the gates were not entitled to protections from whoever was the guarantor of laws, a city guard or the like.
So what’s going to happen if you don’t pay your taxes? Turns out the IRS, the States and the equivalents in other countries have legal means of taking what you own for what you owe. We can discuss the tradeoffs on this, but in practice it’s not overly different from a Duke or a King or a mobster. What’s different is the process, the expectancy of it, and the legality.
At the end of the day, what we’re paying for is the protection of our police, fire departments, Armies and Navies.