Came here to say this. I will try to avoid committing politics in the HN comments section, but it is a true fact that one side of the aisle has definite policy preferences on taxes and maximally does not want them to happen quietly without people noticing them. They will say this, at length and on the record, when asked about the topic. Their positions are sincere and flow logically from both their political preferences and incentives.
Milton Friedman once commented that property tax is particularly unpopular because it's the only tax for which people still have to write a check[0].
That said, we could make income tax more visible without requiring tax professionals. (e.g., end withholding and send me a monthly tax bill; show the money go into my bank account and then back out, whether automatically or forcing me to write a check.)
Property tax is the only tax I know of, at least in the US, that's on static wealth rather than economic activity.
Your stock goes from 500 shares at $20 to 500 shares at $2000, no tax on that $999,000 gain until you sell.
Your house goes from $12,000 to $3,500,000, absent something like Prop 13 in California, your tax bill goes way up even though you have derived no income from the gain in value. This can be a hardship for people whose incomes have not kept pace with the house value.
