Is taxation an appropriate venue for implementing and enforcing cultural norms? Flaunting wealth is a cultural phenomenon, and demarcating it as wrong is an ent

Is taxation an appropriate venue for implementing and enforcing cultural norms? Flaunting wealth is a cultural phenomenon, and demarcating it as wrong is an entirely subjective decision. I think following the "we should appease others to keep the masses from taking everything" argument we end up creating a world far too similar to Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. Actually, the entire argument is very much Objectivist. I wonder if there is a connection.