Randa Abdelfattah and Ramteen Arablui

People like Vivian Kellams made it their life's mission to fight back against the government,

that they thought had gotten way too big.

Vivian was invited onto talk shows.

She was one of the first women interviewed on Meet the Press, and she even took the IRS to court.

And these voices coalesced into a new movement.

The new right that we think about today in the 1980s and 1990s and beyond, that the origins of the new right really do lie in the 1930s and the kind of business reaction to the power of the New Deal, the remaking of labor relations and the growth of organized labor.

Jason Scott Smith says so much of how people think about the government, of the taxes they pay, and of their role in all of that boils down to trust.

To what extent do people trust the government to do the right thing with their tax money?

To what extent do people feel like they are getting good value for their money?

And without an Elmer Irie in the picture, someone to be the trustworthy face of the government, building that goodwill has proven difficult for the agency entrusted with our taxes.

In the century since, the IRS has been embroiled in scandals, political retribution, and not everyone is always paying their fair share.

So it's not unreasonable to ask, What am I paying?

Who's getting away with not paying?

And in our present moment, we have a president who's proud of the fact that he's avoided taxes for many years, that he knows so much about the tax code that he can do that.

But this imperfect system is what helps keep the lights on, the roads operating, the water running.

Taxes are the price we pay for civilization.

There's an element of truth to that.

After all, taxes do pay for the core functions of a government.

To provide protection at home, a court system.

and national defense and those kinds of things that keep order and allow for us in a free society to be prosperous.