Friedman also regretted that he invented the withholding tax.
...and there you go, spewing myths. The income duty (tax) and the Dept. of Internal Revenue, as we know them today, were created by the Internal Revenue Act of 1862. This statute is the core foundation of the IRS Code, only the numbers have changed in regards to withholding (yes, there was withholding back then), deductions & the base amount one can make before having to pay income taxes.
So NO, Friedman did not invent the withholding, but he was very much a key influential person in its blanket reinstatement. He knew darn well what that would do and he went ahead and promoted it anyway and we know this by the many books and articles he has written and not one time has he ever spoken of the difference between privileged activity and unprivileged activity and how each year, the earnings of 10’s of millions of unprivileged workers are duped into believing that their earnings are wages for the purposes of the income tax. Not once did he ever write about the truth of the government paying back to the citizenry, that which was unlawfully withheld from their unprivileged earnings. It is written in the IRS code, sections 3402 & 3121, that not all business/work related activities that produce money are activities subject to the income tax and Friedman knew this you through all those years as he witnessed the abuse grow and grow, he kept silent. I have no respect for a man who is willing to sell out his brethren for a piece of the DC mafia profits.
AND FYI, it is NOT the responsibility of the government or its agency known as the IRS to teach you & I the law. It is our responsibility to educate ourselves about the law and then apply it as it is written. Income, wages, salary, trade, business, corporation, charity, etc., etc., these all are legal terms of art that have specific definitions within the code so one cannot go to the Webster's dictionary and use that definition lest they either find themselves in jail or paying heavy interest & fines on a tax they actually never owed in the first place.