I like to use the following when people say "civil servants are taxpayers too."

If a civil servant is paid 50k (from taxes the government has collected) and the civil servant pays 10 k in taxes, is the original taxpayer up 10k or down 40k?
And that's not even considering pensions / benefits.

We really need to minimize civil servants, they are expensive and stereo typically at least, not the most productive worker you'll ever meet.