There was a time, before 1913, when you could keep every penny you earned. You did not have to file with the federal government, telling them what you earned and giving the feds their cut. Your finances were your business and no one else’s. There were no audits, investigations, account freezes, withholdings, or any other forms of payment. There was your productivity and you and that’s all. Back in those days, however, the federal government barely existed as compared with today. More precisely, in real terms, the federal government in 1885 spent in inflation-adjusted dollars about 0.05 percent of what it spends today. Even then, people believed that it was too big and wanted it cut back to size. https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/replace-income-tax-tariffs