The worst thing is tax withholding. The gov’t takes it before you get it. I wonder, if it never appears in any account that I own, how can it be MY income?
Until we end tax withholding, so everyone gets their entire paycheck and has to write a check for the tax, we’ll stay in prison with promises about “take home pay”.
Tariffs and a national sales tax.
If most people had the money in hand, and had to save to pay their taxes, we'd have much lower taxes. Fewer services, true, but it would be worth it.
Interestingly, the idea of tax withholding was originated by (of all people) Milton Friedman, when he was a young research economist during WWII. The government was desperate for money to carry on the war effort.
Later, in reflecting back on it, Friedman said something to the effect of it seeming necessary at the time, but if he had the choice now, he'd do away with it.
https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/serials/files/cato-journal/1995/1/cj14n3-1.pdf
Evolution of Federal Income Withholding: The Machinery of Institutional Change
by Charlotte Twighy