The problem here is that individuals do not, for the most part, contribute very much in the way of direct tax receipts. The biggest direct tax receipts are from

The problem here is that individuals do not, for the most part, contribute very much in the way of direct tax receipts. The biggest direct tax receipts are from corporations, and for good reason: we decided that capitalism is the best way to organize our economy and private corporations would be the way people band together to engage in economic activity. Corporations, then, reflect the combined, amplified economic output of private citizens. Which is why they must be taxed; for the same reason you would want to tax individuals. That is the Why part. But you seem to be saying that because corporations will always find loopholes that we just give up. As long as the Government is nimble enough to discover these loopholes and close them, this becomes an un-economic endeavor. Which is why... Governments are good, and should be made as functional in these things as possible.