Federal taxes don't exist to raise revenue, because the USD is a sovereign currency (the federal government is the sole issuer of the USD). They exist to avoid

Federal taxes don't exist to raise revenue, because the USD is a sovereign currency (the federal government is the sole issuer of the USD). They exist to avoid inflation and disincentivise certain behaviour. The real solution is to simply spend more money to elevate people out of poverty. But then the question everyone asks is "how will you pay for it?" and instead of answering with the correct answer ("deficit spending is not the original sin, the reason why we are deficit spending is the important question") most political candidates instead say they'll tax rich people. It just so happens that reducing the amount of money and influence incredibly wealthy people have has its own benefits (less corruption and lobbying power for one), but revenue raising is not one of them.