@Lockwood Studios not sure if you had moved on from the taxation debate -- but here is my 2 cent: ask the person what the government had been good at running? most of what the government runs generally are very bad (ie. a lot of bureaucracy, inefficient, not enough), infrastructures took forever to built/fixed (on the local level), funding the military (on the federal level), etc. have there any social program that have been running for long that actually made a positive impact? for example, subsidies for single mothers (we've MORE single-mother households than ever). if my tax is going toward things i don't approve, i'd like to retain my earnings as much as possible.
if you want, do a bit digging and look into taxation in other counties. they'd probably bring up european countries (which, btw, the amount of bureaucracy there is mind-numbing). in vietnam, the tax is quite lax but the minor fees added up (ie. you have to have permits and bribes and etc.) plus the price of goods keep climbing upward every new year due to "traditions".
you can also look at historic tax where the rate was 2%, etc. you can also suggest alternative tax system. or point out flaws in the current federal tax where all the terrible states such as NY or NJ are sucking in money and incentivize the states with good books to keep carrying the states with bad books without pressure for bad states to change.
you can also go the 100% selfless route. alright, so let's say tax works perfectly. we should start with the people that are advocating pro-tax or hiking up tax. why don't the person willing to give up all of their earning to the state? why only stopping at 60%? why don't they give 100% of their earning to their local place and "save the teachers, save the elderly" etc?
