It most certainly is a tax, not in the literal sense but a mandatory premium you pay now that you are in the ecosystem because it is very tough to leave. And it is due to Apple not making it super easy for its products to work with others. Like why cant I delete Apple's Map app? This smells like MSFT / IE back in the day and it will all come to roost soon. We are starting to see signs of it.
Deleting Apple's map app should be the least of your concerns. Just hide it in a folder amongst some of your apps that are used less. It's not like it's taking up any real space on your storage. Microsoft still has people held captive by ball and chain. Honestly I don't appreciate how MS puts a stong-hold on customers, for example as you mentioned, Internet Explorer. Sadly it's still happening. There are some websites that won't work well unless you're using Internet Explorer. It has nothing to do with Windows, it's just that these websites were/are coded with I.E. 6 using Active X and it screws others that don't/can't use Internet Explorer.
Same crap they do holding people captive with Windows and while I'm certainly not condoning it, this is what is some companies will do to reel people into their "ecosystem" At least with Apple it's always been a choice as far as getting into the ecosystem. They make great products and customers decide if they want to enter the Apple environment. With Microsoft, people are forced for the most part due to having to use it at work, any business related stuff (especially on the internet) leans more towards the use of Microsoft's system which presents a monopoly and that's not fair to the consumer and takes away choice.
Hopefully Windows 8 fails, Microsoft has had it's time. Other companies they've stomped over the last 20 years deserve to make their presence.