It may only be a conspiracy but Mt Gox have a huge motive for the blockchain to become as bloated as possible as fast as possible so that "little guys" are forced out and can no longer host a bitcoin node on their own but need a centralised wallet.
I expect the "solution" to the block size issue will be the one that benefits larger services and leaves smaller players in the cold.
Certain players have no interest in bitcoin being something you can host on your own machine.
If that were true, they'd deploy a few international editions of Satoshi Dice
As for taxes, I'd prefer things to evolve to a system where we pay for what we truly need - community policing, etc, and only voluntarily contribute to programs that we'll either use in the future or other special interests. It would take a complete overhaul, of course, so I'm not holding my breath.
I'm wary of the payment processing move, but I understand why they're distancing themselves from being the money-changers.
The way bitcoin is structured, it reminds me of a 'poison pill', but built to take down legacy currencies. The edge exchanges show up, value is perceived and everyone starts converting their currencies. The end-game however is when complete supply chains end up having their services and products priced in BTC. Then the bitcoin user has no need to step outside the system anymore, and conventional currencies get left in the dust.
It's quite brilliant, because it leverages the greed of people to destroy their own flawed currency system.