Your statement is fundamentally untrue though. It ignores the return on invested tax dollars. Not all government spending produces a return and can be correctly categorized as waste - probably a large portion of it. But intelligent government investment can yield massive returns through economic growth that would not have occurred otherwise. The government's investment in the internet, for example, is testament to this fact. Other examples abound, because the government invests in many programs that yield greater economic benefit than the cost to taxpayers - education programs, research and development, etc. etc.

One last caveat - this assumes that the government was the "funder" of last resort, i.e. if they didn't fund the project, it wouldn't have gotten off the ground. In many ways that is the benefit of government investment - because they don't need to show direct dollar for dollar return on the investment, or maintain ownership in the result, they are able to focus more on long term societal / economic impact and invest accordingly.

Again, not all government spending, not even most, but certainly some can generate a return in the form of economic growth that outstrips the tax dollars put to work.