> Rich people are asking to be taxed for the publicity. Many countries, including the United States, have established methods for "donating" to the government.

True. But if Warren Buffett asks to be taxed more, that also affects Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, who likely aren't willingly giving anything extra to the government.

More importantly, the persistent federal deficit leads to huge interest payments. There's some point where it will not be possible to make the payments without intentionally inflating the currency, and likely instituting widespread tax increases coupled with austerity programs.

I'm likely not going to be around to see this happen, but with grandchildren between 1 year old and 27 years old, I expect some or all of them to be around for it.

We tried to corral spending and it hasn't happened. But if we at least work to bring in as much tax money as we spend, there'll be political pressure to curtail anything "unnecessary".