Taxation ought to be based on the notion that the more one economically benefits from citizenship (or non citizen earner) the more they should pay for that condition.
No, they should be based on the need to raise enough taxes to pay for the spending (and the spending should be based on society's needs and the ability to tax enough to pay without overtaxing), and distributed by a 'progressive' notion that recognizes the 'American Dream' relies on those who have less being taxed less to have enough for a decent living, while the wealthy are taxed more, but still have an incentive to be 'productive'.
That goal isn't written in stone. We've had a top tax rate of 91% with more deductions, and the economy did fine, including the rich being productive - and the middle class thrived.
We've had lower rates (70% up to Reagan) that also had decent economic results, as far as the tax rate and incentives for the wealthy are concerned.
The nation began an unprecedented shift in favor of the wealthy under Reagan - at the same time he cut the top tax rate to 38%, IIRC.
This post isn't to try to establish causal effects - but this is when the 'rising tide' stopped lifting all boats as the bottom 80% stopped getting any of the economic growth after inflation despite productivity increases, when the concentration of wealth started shooting higher back to the peaks just before the Great Depression, for that matter when lobbyists went from under 1,000 pre-Reagan to today's 36,000.
We can have an American where there are rich, middle and poor but the 'American Dream' is more widely available for people, or one that's a plutocracy, with widespread poverty.
Choices like these tax policies are important to determine which we have, and the arguments by those who favor plutocracy are lies that the other side is the smae as the USSR, and will destroy the incentives for the wealthy and cause poverty with low productivity. But they have massive marketing organizations to sell those lies, and massive media machinery to spread them, and they fool a lot of people.
After decades of their message being exposed as lies and the nation seeing its middle class thrashed while the top 0.01% skyrocket, the lies are still fooling a lot of people.
The very poor - for what ever reason - benefit the least and therefore should pay the least... AND there should be a threshold called poverty that does not demand any taxation.
At the end of the day the total revenue in should equal the total expenditure out... Except for infrastructure creation and economic stimulus needs.... Lt Debt is a fine source but with a pay down scenario included... Wars ought to be waged at the expense of the warrior minded and those who'd benefit from that endeavor with the only exception being one where we've been attacked in a real sense.
How about unnecessary war *not being waged*?
Society in general should not ask for more of what they already know some folks have none of... but neither should society be 'forced' to contribute to the needs of the very poor beyond some reasonable point... And that point considers the revenue/expenditure aspect of reality.
That's right - and the liberals' position fits that, while the right's is to move to plutocracy.