Very good analysis. I do prefer the business analogy to the government one, but whatever helps people understand is fine and an inflation tax may be something easier for people to understand. (I just prefer not to associate governments or taxes with a blockchain. I'm fond of blockchains, not government.) It may be hard for most people to see the connection of Steem with a business because there is no revenue, however an alternative way to think of it is that we're building an information/knowledge asset on the blockchain. It's a resource that grows in value over time. Secondly revenue is a metric that validates the value of a company, but a company or organization without revenue can have value. For example any business/org that saves costs or expenses and that does not charge a fee is still valuable. The amount of cost savings is a proxy for potential revenue. For Steemit the revenue potential is people's time and attention that is usually monetized through ads. Currently the ad-free value of quality content (information/knowledge/happiness) is a proxy for revenue potential. In the future, instead of buying ads directly advertisers will buy Steem to gain influence, mindshare & product placement etc.

Also here is my perspective on Steem: Where DOES the money come from?