Not to put on a tinfoil hat, but how long do you think we have had a personal income tax?
How were services funded before that?
Do you think it is more efficient to hire a garbage collector yourself, or to have the government collect your money and do it for you?
The vast entitlement programs (and the ponzi scheme of Social Security and Medicare) would not be possible without it.
Are schools better now than they were before income taxes were established? They are tremendously supported by Federal tax money today, but without results based accounting.
And the process of taking it out of your paycheck (as a convenience) before you get it makes it more palatable, because you never see the money.
If more Americans had to stroke a check every year for 28-45%% of their income to the Federal Government, 5% more for SS and Medicare, and another 5-15% to the State and local governments, there would be a lot of political changes and more accountability in spending.
Just my looney fringe opinion.
TR