> If you care about economic success of the country, the goal isn't 'collect as many taxes as possible'. The goal is to make the citizens wealthier in real terms.

Just like how "collect as many taxes as possible" isn't actually a good goal, just "make the citizens wealthier" isn't actually a good goal either because it says nothing about the distribution of that wealth.

If we enacted a law that made 99.9% of all citizens absolutely destitute to the point where they must eat rotten food found in the trash to survive, but this law also multiplied the wealth of Bezos and Elon a millionfold, then that would successfully "make the citizens wealthier" in sum.

Taxes are used to run society, from it's roads, fire department, education, social services, and much more. A lot of people are pushing to cut down on those things, to decrease the bounty that society offers regular people who partake, because "we just can't afford it." and the reason we can't afford it is because there is an overly focus on "make the citizens wealthier" even at the cost of most citizens.