You are absolutely right and user fees are the very fairest way to raise revenue. They are NOT a tax in the way we speak of taxes today (income tax).
Fertilizer. My taxes already paid for whatever the 'user fee' was supposed to be used for. We do not have an federal income problem, we have a problem in the Feds spending more money than they're taking in.
It is in no way 'fair' to demand more money for the same service from taxpayers. I'd have less of a problem cutting back on the gimmes though - pretty much all tax credits would be something I'd be more than happy to see on the table - a simple rule change; you can only apply tax credits to the tax liability and not be refunded the excess. Literally thousands of dollars refunded per return for millions of returns each year. Because giving away money that the feds already spent elsewhere is a big part of the problem.