[muawiyah]

As a practical matter nation states, most of which are under the direct control of their wealthy elites, use the income tax to make sure there are no competitors who are going to rise up from the ranks of the poor and middle-classes.

That's why so much of the class warfare discussion takes place within the context of relative rates of taxation ~ and only rarely in terms of relative rates of ownership!

[03A3]

An excellent reason to move from an income based tax to a consumption based tax.