It is entirely possible that tax revolt is a luxury during good times. During bad times people remember that the purpose of the state is to promote the flourishing of all citizens, not just rich fucks. It's not an accident that the bursts of effective progressive legislation in the US track with recessions and depressions.
Panic of 1825 --> State reform movements of 1830s:
- Married woman's property acts
- Reform of prisons
- State child labor laws
- Mandatory public schooling
- Expansion of public libraries
- Abolition movement
Panic of 1857 & Civil War --> Reconstruction Amendments of Late 1860s:
- Extension of Bill of Rights to states
- Prohibition of slavery
- Reconstruction
- Land grant universities
Panic of 1873, the Long Depression of 1873-79 & Depression of 1882-85 --> Progressive Era of Late 1890s – Early 1910s:
- Anti-trust
- Federal income tax amendment of 1913
- Direct election of Senators
- Addition of referenda to state constitutions
- Women's suffrage
- Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906
- National parks
- Federal Reserve Act of 1913
Great Depression of 1929 --> New Deal of 1933–1939:
- Social Security Act
- Wagner Act
- Fair Labor Standards Act
- FDIC
- SEC
Recessions of 1958, 1960-61 --> Great Society of Mid 1960s - Early 1970s:
- Civil rights movement
- Civil Rights Act of 1964
- Voting Rights Act of 1965
- Fair Housing Act of 1968
- Medicare
- Medicaid
- Food Stamp Act
- Head Start
- EPA
Black Monday 1987 and Recession of Late 1980s --> Nothing
- Fiscal and regulatory reform blocked by oligarchs
Dot-com Bubble Crisis and Overleveraging Recession of the 2000s --> Nothing
- Fiscal and regulatory reform blocked by oligarchs
There are liberalizing spurts about once every 25 or so years (Jefferson's "revolution" once every generation) as we push old bigotries aside and push back against the relentless accumulation of power by the wealthy.
But recently we have had fifty years of pressures building as the rich kept stealing and bribed and threatened politicians to not adapt as the economy divided between 1% and 99%. And as they keep us at bay the seismic forces get stronger, but their grip also tightens. So much so that the abortive attempt at a revolt by the Tea Party has thrown us to the brink of the tyranny Aristotle predicted.
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