A Alan Brock 4/14/93 Orange County Register Editorial titled "A case for
  repealing the income tax" got my attention.

  Some quotes:

   "... a tax on income, because of the flexible definition of that
   concept, invites the government to snoop into every nook and
   cranny of our lives. Encouraging people to snoop on one another
   and report transgressions against the almighty state, which most
   Americans deplored in Nazi or communist regimes..." 

   "... Although most Americans paid no income tax at all 50 years ago
   -- withholding began only during World War II, as a "temporary"
   exigency, and in 1948 the median family federal income tax was $9..."

   "Last year the federal government got only 37 percent of its income
    from income taxes... How long ago was it that the federal government
    somehow managed to stagger along on 63 percent of its 1992 revenue?
    ... Would you believe five?..."