While most of us would like to see more jobs, businesses, services, and families in our communities, governments usually get their revenue from taxes that drive prosperity away. Every sales tax, income tax, wage tax, or tax on buildings is a notice to productive people to “stay away.” We can fiddle with the details, providing exemptions and incentives for particular groups, but our backwards tax system is a big reason why unemployment, poverty, and loss of tax base are major problems in so many American communities.
But we do need revenue to provide services. How else could we get it?