Like many throughout history who neglect the coherence of libertarian caste analysis, many Americans sought government growth. The obvious non sequitur should have been noticed. Why would giving the government more power and money be the solution? Obviously, people assumed then as they do today, that other people will be taxed and burdened, that they will not, and/or that if the government taxes other people, they will receive some of it. Historically, this is not the case. The political class—those responsible for the inflationary booms and deflationary busts, tariffs, and cronyism—are supposed to solve the problems if they only receive more money and power. Chodorov explains what the appeal of income tax was,

Income taxation appeals to the governing class because in its everlasting urgency for power it needs money.

Income taxation appeals to the mass of people because it gives expression to their envy; it salves their sense of hurt. (emphasis in original)

While the political class ought to be held to the highest accountability, the masses who support them in the hope that they will benefit deserve blame too. “Envy” is a key word here. It is not the same as greed, jealousy, or covetousness, envy has to do with willingness to see something destroyed for others because it cannot be possessed. Envy is key to socialism because it is a system that can only destroy wealth and production, not create it. Through envy, the masses empower the political class, thinking they will somehow benefit. Chodorov starkly reminds us,

The only beneficiaries of income taxation are the politicians, for it not only gives them the means by which they can increase their emoluments but it also enables them to improve their importance.

Americans saw tariffs and income tax as an either/or trade-off, but it would shortly be revealed as a both/and—tariffs and income tax. An 1894 bill and several income tax bills introduced afterward “linked tariff reduction with income taxation.” This connection was a fiction. Chodorov explains, “Not until the constitutional amendment was passed by Congress was the fiction dropped that tariff reduction and income taxation are related.” Wisely, Chodorov reiterated a principle we would do well to remember, “[Government] never gives up power; it never abdicates.” We could argue that people should have known better back then, but they could argue that we should know better now. Chodorov argued from experience too,

Hence, the idea that the government would give up tariff revenue in exchange for income-tax revenue was contrary to all experience. It promised to make the swap, and perhaps its leaders believed the promise, but the nature of government is such that it cannot give up one power for another; not permanently, at any rate.