Taxation, as my dyed-in-the-wool libertarian friends like to say, is theft. State-sponsored theft, legalized theft, tolerated theft, and possibly even necessary theft, but theft just the same. People probably wouldn't mind it so much if 100% of the money went to tangible, unarguably beneficial, projects. Unfortunately, as taxation stands now, your money is confiscated and much of it's squandered on a whole array of worthless garbage.
Everyone, whether they admit it or not, wants to keep more of what they earn. Progressives like to call this instinct "unpatriotic." Those of us who know our nation's history call it "the most patriotic thing in the world." Whatever you call it, it's perfectly natural and (since we don't have walls between the states) high-tax states are becoming acutely aware of it.