Flat income tax without the high personal exemption would have to be very low (as low as the poorer people can afford). As a result you would get state as weak as in Latin America. What about dividends, capital gain, property tax etc ?
So you prefer income tax over tariffs?
user fees for government services
This would be worse than poll tax.
Latin America is NOT an example of laissez faire, free market capitalism. The reason such countries are so screwed up has more to do with culture, and one that encourages economic corporatism and "family owned large enterprises. I love it when the paleo/ream-em novarum crowd love to trot out the Latin boogeyman on a regular basis, forgetting that a mixture of cultural Catholocism, disdain for enterpreneurship, and corporatavist statist economic policies are the reason for Latin America's failure.
And that's a bad thing why again? The federal government was intended to have few and specific powers, not massive overreach into the affairs of the citizens of the respective states. We could easily be rid of at least 10 useless Cabinet departments overnight
user fees for government services. This would be worse than poll tax.
In no way would it. I don't have children and yet I am required to support public schools. I don't go to the park and yet I am taxed to build parks. I don't use Medicare and yet I am taxed on that. Same with Social Security. If you use a service or plan to use the service, then you pay for it. Don't steal from my pockets to do so.