“My kids aren’t going to pay an 85% federal income tax rate.”
Why not? Your parents and grandparents did if they made enough money. In fact, from 1950 to 1963, we had the highest marginal tax rates in American history, 91%-92%. We had three short recessions in 1954, 1958 and 1961 but otherwise it was a time of growth in employment and real wages.
We had no federal income tax for the vast majority of this country's history. That's why not.