Because we don't have a democratic capitalist system, we have a corporatist oligopoly.

The federal govt was set up to be toothless -- and consequently lacking in responsibility -- on purpose. Then it overstepped those bounds in terms of power, but never in terms of responsibility.

So you have a rate of federal income tax that is double, triple, or more that of your resident state, while getting almost nothing in return in the form of social services. (Medicare, Social Security/FICA are on top of the base federal income tax.)

States will have a very hard time raising taxes because the fed govt already takes so much from their citizens, and tehy cannot overrule the federal govt tax rate.

And, states are too interconnected by trade to be self-sufficient unto themselves, even with higher taxes. And the federal govt controls states without helping much - and what aid they give comes with control issues.

The govt of the USA simply doesn't work in this century. It needs to be either more state-oriented, or more federalist, not this unholy half-breed.

Consider the following:

I'm an American citizen living abroad permanently. I have to pay federal income taxes even though I never intend to return.

And better yet, I can't even vote in any election. Because I won't declare myself a resident of a state (and subject to those income taxes).

Without paying state income tax, I cannot vote in the federal elections.

Tell me that's not fucked up.

(And no, I can't just declare myself a resident of a state that has no income tax. That doesn't work.)