Most people fantasize about supermodels (at least most guys, I have no clue about females). But I’m different. I dream about a world with limited government, sort of like what America’s Founding Fathers had in mind.
One of the best things about this fantasy world is that we would not need an income tax. Indeed, with the exception of brief periods during the Civil War and 1894-1895, America did just fine without an income tax all the way ’til 1913.
But even though I like the idea of a society where none of us is burdened by an income tax, it does not automatically follow that I’m happy about the growing number of people that are now exempted from the tax.
My concern revolves around the fact that if government is “free” for a growing number of people, that may lead them to support policies that make government even bigger. More generally, this could be another step toward becoming a failed state like Greece, with too many people riding in the wagon and not enough people pulling the wagon.
Here’s a chart, showing the most-recent breakdown of income taxpayers vs. non-taxpayers, from the Ways & Means Committee.
