For the same reason they are now - nobody likes seeing a big chunk of their hard-earned wages vanish in the form of taxes, even if we know they go to a good cause such as providing health services, education and so on!
Jews hated tax collectors, as they were Jewish people collecting tax from the Jews for the Romans.
they were despised and hated. they were also put to the side and none of the people liked them.
They were hated because they were Jews employed by the Romans to collect imperial taxes levied by their oppressors; a tax the Jews always chafed under (Matthew 22:17). They were considered to be traitors. (It should be understood that these tax collectors, who are equated with "sinners" several times in the New Testament, had nothing to do with the "temple tax" collected by the Jews.)
because the tax collectors are sinners..for they are collecting too much of the amount of the peoples tax..that's why they are criticizing him..for they say that if Jesus does mingle with the sinners, therefore he is also a sinners..
The whiskey boys hurt the tax collectors all the time.
Zacchaeus was a tax collector. Everyone in that time hated the tax collectors so it seemed that someone claiming to be the Son of God should be doing much "holier" things. Jesus did this to show the people that anyone could come to know God and follow Him.
the king maybe
With tax collectors that came to the Americas to collect the taxes.
They were tax collectors and judges.
You need to specify where and when in history men attacked tax collectors if you want to make it possible to answer this question.
There were two tax collectors one was Matthew and the other was Zachaeus.
The Sons of Liberty tarred and feathered tax collectors as a form of protest against British taxation policies. This violent action was meant to intimidate tax collectors and discourage them from carrying out their duties.