freeborn | ἐλεύθερος | 8r0gwg on Nostr: Repeal the Current Tax Payment Act of 1943 that Milton Friedman helped design: ``` ...

Repeal the Current Tax Payment Act of 1943 that Milton Friedman helped design:

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During World War II (1941–1943), Friedman worked as an economist in the U.S. Treasury Department’s Division of Tax Research. He played a key role in designing the Current Tax Payment Act of 1943, which introduced mandatory withholding of federal income taxes from employees' paychecks. His work included researching foreign tax systems, consulting with employers, and helping draft the policy framework that made large-scale tax collection feasible during the war.

Although Friedman later became a leading advocate for limited government and free markets, he acknowledged his role in creating the withholding system—one he ultimately regretted. He stated that while the system was necessary for wartime revenue, it made taxes less visible to citizens and enabled the growth of government. In his memoirs, he wrote:

"It never occurred to me at the time that I was helping to develop machinery that would make possible a government that I would come to criticize severely as too large, too intrusive, too destructive of freedom."
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(source: brave search)