W2 provides some niceties for the IRS, but the government could easily require income withholding on 1099's. > Imagine a population of 1099 workers where half

W2 provides some niceties for the IRS, but the government could easily require income withholding on 1099's. > Imagine a population of 1099 workers where half of the electorate refuses to pay taxes in order to protest the policies of the government in power. Half of the citizens being pissed off enough to not pay taxes is an issue for the government, but I don't think the money itself is an issue for the government. They can seize any money you put into a digital payment network, probably including Bitcoin if they can blacklist your address/coins. They can stop printing and deprecate cash, so you have to use a digital payment network. Hell, they can just print more if they have to. You're threatening to withhold tickets from a Chuck E Cheeze. You would need to set up a parallel economy that didn't function on USD or federally-regulated banks. You certainly could if 50% of the population wanted to participate.