So, the literal dictionary definition is: "any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods" https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/socialism My paraphrase as "government programs" is a faithful, full paraphrase. Your requirement that people should not have to contribute is not found in any common definition, nor does it make any sense. You would agree, right, that socialism is collective/government ownership, as in the definition above? Do we not have to pay for things we own? Yet you would say that paying makes it not socialist. Paying taxes is precisely what socialism is all about.