What are taxes for since law forbids printing of money?

Question

I'm wondering for a long time if people complain about taxes, why they let the government collecting it while it has the authority on supply of money through monetary policy? This looks for me like duplicated authority which only increases state's operating cost and complicates life of all citizens.

Answer 1

The U.S. Constitution in Article I Section 8 permits only Congress to coin money and to regulate its value. Section 10 forbids the states the right to coin or to print their own money. And it's common knowledge that counterfeiting is against the law. Collecting money (through taxes) and printing money are two different functions. Without tax money, the government couldn't function. It's just like our home budgets. Money comes into the household, and those in charge of the home determine where and how it will be spent--two different functions neither of which increases costs nor complicates the lives of those who live in the home. That doesn't mean that the money is necessarily well spent for everyone's benefit in either case.