It did ok for 136 years without an income tax. Money was usually raised through Bond Issues, where it was put to a vote. This however, was not a certain way of getting cash for all their tyrannical schemes fast enough, so in 1912 - wham! - the income tax - pay up bud!
You really want a lifestyle of pre-1912?
No cars, no cell phones, no MRI’s, no painless dentistry, no micro-surgery, no airplanes, no FDIC, no miracle drugs, no organ transplants, ....you get the idea.
Life is far more complex today compared to pre-1912.
I am not anxious to go back to that era.