Argh. Everybody acts like taxes are the worst thing in the history of mankind and should be exterminated, or, at least, kept as low as possible.
Why don't they see that the government needs their money. They're not raising them for no reason, you know. And the taxes you pay will probably reflect on you in one way or another.
Because the government does not
need that money. A large number of entitlements have been promised to the American people, without the means to pay for it, but that in no way implies
need. One could (and, for a very large number of functions, I
do) say that the government would be just as well off excising programs that aren't providing benefits commensurate with the investment.
I'd start with the military--while the military runs much more lean of an operation than is commonly thought by the public, there's a hell of a lot of money in projects designed to fight the last war instead of the current war. But there's a great deal of cruft
everywhere. At this point the only reason I would support tax hikes is specifically to reduce the growth of the deficit to below-inflation levels. And no more.
But that means that politicians can't promise their constituents more bread and circuses, so that will never happen. Instead, short-sighted greed will result in a financial mess that won't be cleaned up in my lifetime.