A lot of it is property taxes, payroll taxes, local taxes etc. and in any event, paid by a different generation. If we're willing to go further back, let's also

A lot of it is property taxes, payroll taxes, local taxes etc. and in any event, paid by a different generation. If we're willing to go further back, let's also not forget that a lot of this was achieved by slave labor & after emancipation, an entire people denied basic civil rights. In any event, it was not as if Bill Gates paid for the Hoover Dam. Keep in mind some of the tools for creating capital and income was not available to large swathes of society - like access to subsidized higher education, homesteads / farmsteads, and mortgages. These are federal means to build capital which sets the stage for earning higher incomes.