I don't pay 50% tax in Germany but I probably pay more than you.
I don't mind it because:
1. I get great services for my tax money (health services practically free, good transit, good schools, higher education is free to cheap, daycare/kindergarten is so cheap as to be basically free). I was paying a bit less taxes when we lived in Israel but ALL public services were worse in a greater margin than the difference in taxes.
I recently had to go through some fairly major health related treatment and both the treatment and substantial hospital stay were practically free of charge, I didn't have to think about the financial aspect of it at all (despite being self-employed).
2. even tho i worked hard to get to where I am I still enjoyed a great deal of privilege: i grew up to middle-class parents who taught me that education is important, my family helped support me through college, I had role models of succesful people around me as a child, I grew up in a relatively safe and nurturing environment, etc.
I am sure an ethnic minority growing up to working-poor parents in a backwater periphery would have a much harder time achieving what I did or even knowing what to achieve, and yet it is no fault of their own that they were born to such circumstances. So I don't mind funding public schools/healthcare/infrastructure/welfare to make sure these kids get at least the basics at a level closer to mine, and are more likely to get ahead in life instead of being trapped in generational-poverty.
maybe the issue is that you don't feel your government is spending tax money wisely? IMO the solution there is to replace the government not reduce taxes.
having experienced both systems for many years it's obvious to me the welfare state gave me much better quality of life & safety, despite being a well-earning software developer who pay a lot more into the system than what I (explicitly) take out of it.