That's precisely what has been happening periodically since we started having governments and states (around 8000-10000 years ago).
One way to measure the value of a government is to estimate how much people would voluntarily pay for the government services if they were not forced through taxation and inflation. As governments are highly inefficient and bloated, most likely nobody would pay the services they provide, and would prefer more efficient free market alternatives if they had a choice.
Now, governments still have to give something back in order to avoid an instant revolt. Modern governments do that through debt spending, meaning: they make the future generations pay (through debt) for the "economic growth" that the current generation enjoys.