From an economic standpoint, it makes sense not to tax income because income is production, and taxing production reduces the incentive to produce, which is the last thing we need. If we have to tax something, it makes more economic sense to tax consumption, for example with a national sales tax.
> The general ailments and downtrends in American society started right around the time when taxation (especially the corporate kind) started getting cut and we moved away from the gold standard for our money.
I don't think this historical narrative is correct. First, the two things you mention did not happen at the same time; tax cuts, at least if we are talking about income taxes, more or less started with Reagan in the 1980s, but the US went off the gold standard in 1933 under FDR. (Technically the US still claimed to support converting dollars to gold internationally until 1971, but that's a relatively minor change compared to what happened in 1933.)
Second, "general ailments and downtrends" is very broad and I don't think one can pin down a particular time when they started.
Third, as I believe pg pointed out in one of his essays, US government tax revenue as a percentage of GDP has varied very little over decades even while tax rates have varied a lot.
> Perverse financial incentives are ruining everything
I don't disagree with this as a general statement, but I think the tax code is a fairly minor contributor to the perverse financial incentives as compared with the government (via the Fed) printing money. Historically, monetary debasement has always led to civilizational decline.