Corporations don't generate enough profit to float a nation's tax needs. Corporate profit in the US is generally somewhere around $2 trillion per quarter when

Corporations don't generate enough profit to float a nation's tax needs. Corporate profit in the US is generally somewhere around $2 trillion per quarter when times are very good. That's including all businesses, from mom & pop to Microsoft, and that includes all profit from global operations (not just domestic operations). A 50% tax would only pay for just over half the US tax revenue needs (assuming you make the mistake of taxing global profits at 50% as well) and that would probably cripple the US economy. Many of the consequential corporations would attempt to flee (so you'd have to implement some form of government-sponsored slavery to keep people in). A 100% tax would immediately begin to collapse the US economy as businesses would no longer be able to save for any future purpose (including recessions, business problems, unexpected opportunities, and so on) and they would fail rapidly. The only tax source large enough to support a nation is an income tax on individuals. That's why, for example, no nation in Europe has ever attempted to fund their expensive and well-experimented welfare states in the way you're suggesting. They know it doesn't come close to working.