You're thinking about taxes with an overly-conservative mindset; Think about it like a game, much like an RPG, where the more you play or more strategically you play, the richer you get, or the more you 'level up'. The more you level up, the harder the game gets but ONLY from a relative standpoint; the game to you appears to have the same difficulty as before, but at the same time you have access to goods & services you didn't before. Having a static tax rate means the ones that are good can too easily game the whole system, so you have to have a dynamic tax rate set on an upwards curve, with bonus points ("tax breaks") awarded to those who behave in a way that proactively stimulates the national economy. This isn't anything new; this has been going on since the ruling class learned how to tax. The controversy therefore lies not in how people are taxed, but how & at what level that curve is applied. Of course, it also couldn't hurt to have a more realistic national defense strategy instead of one where we pump EVERYONE'S money into a 'war on terror'.