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For understanding how they are snakes, the same thinking can be applied to Debt Collectors (unless you're a fan of those too).
There is a certain degree of guilty despite following orders. For instance let's take the Holocaust situation and use it. The German forces were just following Hitler's orders, but later on (there was actually a few here recently) many soldiers under Hitler found themselves in trials where the defense of "just following orders" is not applicable. This applies to the United States as well. However, in the case of the IRS they are not committing a crime, obviously, but the fact still stands that even if people are ordered to do something and they carry out that order they are at fault for anything that arises from carrying it out.
Everyone has their opinions though. The main problem people have with the IRS is yes, the simple fact that they take our money. The problem is, is that the amounts they are taking could be taken from somewhere else and HOW they CAN take it. Taxes are important, absolutely vital for our nation to function, but where to take it from could be a lot better. There are those, mostly Democrats, who hold little animosity for the IRS. Then there are those, mostly Republicans, who find them too intrusive. What it all boils down to is this, why should I have to pay more because my hard work earns more? Another argument I could produce is that of where they get their money. Much like when a boss cuts employee wages but keeps his own spending up, why not cut and take from the inside instead of lookin' to cut from the outside? The answer is simple, the outside doesn't matter. The outside, being powerless, has no choice but to either give in or find another job (finding another job in IRS terms would be jail time). There are also businesses that the IRS deem necessary and are willing to protect at the cost of other businesses.
Going back to the example I used of the construction company being audited, they didn't get a dime from us, yes. However, despite everything being in order they tried to nickle and dime us throughout their process. We had our lawyer come in as well and he kept making sure that our finance department was not falling for some of their tactics and that the auditors were properly carrying out their job. This is why I bring up Debt Collectors in this post, the use of tactics despite the facts. It is one thing to do the IRS bidding properly and another to nickle and dime, I'm sure we can all agree that nickle and diming is an atrocious method of getting money.
Anyway, it's just a matter of opinion. I agree with taxes (to an extent), but I don't agree with their intrusive measures. Just like a Debt Collector, I agree if you owe you should pay, but their actions could be far better than they tend to be.
To go back a bit and summarize my feelings on the situation though, I do not think this man did the right thing. It was a very horrible and improper thing to do. That being said, my whole idea to get across is that I don't think the man was a crazy psycho. It is my belief that if the guy had survived and tried to pull the crazy card he'd have checked out clean and been put on trial as a normal man fitting to take responsibility for all of his actions. While his burning of his family's house could point toward the contrary it could also be that had he not burned the house down he would have allowed the IRS to take it all, thus, it was the only way to keep them from finding out about things he didn't want them to find. Though his family is without their house he could have left something of far greater value in terms of money. Oppositely, this could have just been "tin foil hat" which makes him crazy, but the facts there will likely never surface to those of us not in the family so we can't really, truly rule he was crazy in this regard.
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