The US is going to have to raise taxes

The US government is borrowing a lot of money at high interest rates. In the 2023 fiscal year, the deficit rose to $1.7 trillion—a number the US only exceeded during the burst of pandemic spending.

But the reason for so much borrowing isn’t spending—federal outlays were actually down 2% in 2023. The bulk of the difference came from falling revenue compared to 2022, when the US taxman made out like a bandit as investors closed their positions at the top of the bull market in equities and paid their capital gains...