its all fiat monopoly money, no reason for taxes or not to give away money.
I have a minority opinion on taxes, I think that it is immoral to tax wages. It is our very nature as humans to work to provide for ourselves and our families. Even before currency existed, people had to work as serfs and barter for sustenance. Before that we hunted and gathered. Taxing labor is insidious, contrary to human nature, and as you said makes providing for families more difficult. We have to work 1/3 to 1/2 the year just to cover taxes.
From the economic standpoint, wages only account for about 30% of income to the federal government. Another 25% of spending is financed through debt. About 45%-50% of federal revenues are raised through other forms of taxation separate from wages - tariffs, capital gains taxes, other fees and licenses.
My opinion is that we should stop taxing wages and stop borrowing and just print the money. This will of course cause some inflation. But that is good and bad. On the bad side, it punishes savers. However that can be offset through compensation.
But my main argument is that inflation impacts everyone. Right now with nearly 1/2 the population paying no taxes, they don’t care what the tax rate is. The politicians use the taxes to divide us and demagogue - let’s take that power away from them. Most importantly, it makes everyone invested in how money is spent. When the cost of bread and milk rise, everyone has a stake in it and everyone will demand fiscal prudence to keep inflation in check.
I know it’s a longshot argument and outside the Overton Window. And it has some downsides which need to be managed. But overall vesting every American into the way money is spent and government manages things in general would be a net positive for efficient and prudent management of spending.
The new tax laws with Corporations paying 20% top rate is going to make entrepreneurs think differently about taking all their profit as personal income via an LLC or S corp. that’s going to change the way entrepreneurs pay themselves and finance (and deduct/expense the cost of) business property - further reducing federal income from wages in the future. As a % of federal income wages will become an even smaller portion than it is today. Why pay a max rate of 39% as income if you can leave it in your corporation(s) and pay a max rate of 20%?
* this post is for entertainment purposes and not to be considered tax or legal advice :-)