I always like to point out that prior to the world wars there was no federal income tax in either the US or Canada, and there was no state or provincial income taxes either.

In other words, whereas a blue collar worker's last dollar today might consist of 50 cents to the government and 50 cents for themselves, our great grandparents would have paid 0 cents to the government and 100 cents for themselves.

In spite of that, the governments of the past routinely paid back their national debts, whereas today despite taking so much from us they've spent an unimaginable amount of debt.