"I have helped pay for something good. More people could benefit from it, at no additional cost to me. But I'd rather they not."

as a tax payer, I’m not sure I want other countries freeloading on our investments.

Ugh. Money is a curse

Thank you sir for making this planet a living hell

Great point. If someone else may derive value from it, then it is a lost cause and no one should have it.

Maybe you should only use it based on how much you paid/contributed. You don't want to free load off other tax payer's money

I do, when those investments can be copied for free

“You wouldn’t steal a car”, but if you could download one from the internet the world would be a better place.

as a tax payer, I’m not sure I want other countries freeloading on our investments.

Ugh. Money is a curse

Then it dies as an investment, relegated to the halls of decay like other closed source apps as soon as it loses relevance

And the UK taxpayer might save money by using open source projects funded by other municipality in different countries. This is already the standard for some EU projects.

Could some countries 'freeload'? Sure. But what's the actual cost for that? The people in those places getting better software, while the original users are no worse off?

Could also help with less wealthy countries having access to software they couldn't otherwise afford to develop.

Oh no! Somebody else might benefit from something you would've made anyway, at no additional cost to you! The horror!

We also get free development and contributions from others.