[berns]

But don't forget that no matter the amount of taxes collected, politicians will find a way to spend more, so there will always be a deficit and more money will always have to be printed and whoever wants to reduce the deficit will be accused of "tightening" (ajustar) the Argentine people.

Argentina leads a ranking of world tax pressure:

https://www.ambito.com/economia/impuestos/la-argentina-lider...

[wbsss4412]

> But don't forget that no matter the amount of taxes collected, politicians will find a way to spend more

That’s just not true, there are plenty of states that run surpluses.

> Argentina leads a ranking of world tax pressure

I didn’t say their tax policy was good, only that it’s difficult to address deficits when you can’t reliably collect taxes.

It’s all related. The government doesn’t collect sufficient tax revenue => they raise taxes => people evade taxes => the government raises taxes more.

Such backwards tax policy is a sign that those who can evade taxes are (usually mostly the elites, but to an extent everyone does it), and those who can’t are footing the whole bill.