Why are humans the only animal that needs to "pay" to exist?

Somebody asked me why humans are the only animal that needs to pay to live. To understand the question, one must first understand what "payment" is, which is usually the exchange of "money". Money has become very complex stuff. Most people would say the $20 dollar bill in their wallet was money. Trading a $20 for a tangible item at a convenience store happens countless times a day. Doing the same with a check or credit card is effective too. In fact, if the store owner thinks you are trustworthy, you may even be able to swap an IOU note for an item or two. Yet nature doesn't care about money or pricing at all. A wild hungry animal is as likely to eat you as not no matter what your credit score is. If you're trapped alone on an island, you'll be just as hungry with or without a knapsack full of gold or hundred dollar bills. So, money is apparently a human construct.

Money is simply one of many relationships two or more humans can have. For example, suppose you were to go back in time to become a peasant in ancient Japan. Suppose a Shogun warrior then shows up demanding tribute as was common in that time. Here's a guy who has state of the art weaponry, armor and training of that day. As a peasant, you have a choice. You can either fight him and likely be destroyed or pay him to leave you alone. You could offer him chickens, rice or perhaps an IOU for part of a future harvest. This is the ultimate basis of taxes. Someone, be it the IRS, the Sheriff of Nottingham, or your local mafia group wants a payoff. If it's a government, the payoff happens to be called a "tax".

Furthermore, since wealth is frequently too bulky to conveniently be carried away, they want their tax represented in a form such as an IOU, gold, check or most often paper currency. That way, YOU eventually provide the physical wealth or service to them when and where they want it in exchange for more money to pay more future taxes. This special form of money is referred to as "paper currency." In return, a government usually enforces real-estate laws, maintains the transportation infrastructure and has a police force to protect not only it's existence but the existence of wealth producers among other services (all making the populace more efficient to either be taxed more or at least not protest as much when they are taxed). So, there you have it. In a nutshell, the primary value of currency is for paying taxes. Since nearly everyone pays taxes either directly or indirectly, government currency has developed into an indirect wealth storage system of sorts. Other forms of "money" such as IOUs or gold still exist but currency seems to be the way most forms of money exist today.

Many people in the U.S. have found having a "job" is the easiest way to attract currency to pay taxes. Most citizens pay property tax (or rent, which is property tax + profit), sales taxes, income tax and plus assorted usage taxes from automobile registrations to building permits. Along the way, opportunists such as bankers or business people profit from manipulating this system in their favor. Some common ways of doing are by simply by buying low then selling high, charging interest or issuing credit. The video "Money as Debt" explains how bankers profit from controlling the monetary system in more detail. That video is one of the easiest ways to understand how money works today.

So basically, this is why humans appear to "pay" to live. Each, a person has a choice. Either pay off their warlord (or government) or become the government. Once in charge, the new government will often issue their own "currency" for property tax enforcement since that is the essence of government power. However, being the person in charge is lots of work and the position can sometimes have very crappy job security. Other people will try assassinations (or elections) since they think they can do a better job. In addition, other governments will be trying to take over the territory either through military or economic action. So, being in charge isn't always good. If it were possible to ask Saddam Hussein about this, I think he would agree.