The 16th Amendment was ratified in 1913, which states that: "The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration." The wording of this amendment was deliberate, so as to supersede previous taxation which limited such taxation to those taxes that were direct taxes apportioned proportionally among the several States, as well as the eliminating the restriction of just being limited for tax revenue purposes to uniform taxes on duties, imports, and excises throughout the entire United States. This meant, with congress having carte blanche to setup whatever they so desired to lay and collect taxes, that today's progressive income tax was built upon the foundation of this amendment.
The passage of the 16th amendment, initially only subjected a very small percentage of Americans to income taxation, and the top limit of such taxation was only seven percent, but like most taxes, that are first begun, it morphed over the years to encompass more and more Americans, as well as the inevitable addition of copycat State taxes, which most States impose upon their residents. The effect of such a progressive income tax was to in fit and function, to mandate that certain people of certain incomes, would pay more progressively as their income rose via personal taxes than other people, essentially creating a world in which some paid more, and then such monies were subsequently distributed or utilized by the government for purposes that the government so desired, indicating that such taxation would re-distribute monies in a manner in which there would be new beneficiaries of such largess, intended or not, as well as those that would find their income being squeezed for purposes that they had no real control over.
Not too surprisingly, such taxation, which perhaps was seen as an opportunity to "soak the rich" and therefore would have significant support from those that were not rich, has been corrupted to such an extent that the very rich themselves, the elite of the elite, the one percent of the one percent, have found ways to circumvent such taxation, or at least to reduce it significantly, so that they pay a vastly smaller percentage of the taxation rate of which they are, in theory, subject to, through the myriad loopholes, specifically available for them, whereas, the great middle class of this country, are stuck paying the full freight of such taxation, because those avenues of gaming the system, are specifically not available for them.
This means, that billions upon billions of dollars are taken through taxation from the middle class each year, and this money is first used to feed, pay, and house government officials of all stripes, before being re-distributed, of which such re-distribution doesn't really go directly to those of the lowest income levels in order to help prop them up and aid them, but instead is disbursed first to all those that are connected to the government, on a quasi quid pro quo basis, and then what remains is passed on to the underclass of America, of which, such money as given to them, has all sorts of terms and conditions attached to it, so that those that are poor but don't fill out their paperwork correctly, or are poor and have violated some law, are left with the crumbs designated for the truly destitute and dregs of society.
While the concept of the progressive income tax, actually has some soundness to it, in the sense, that those that have more than enough, therefore have the monetary resources to share their wealth with those that have little or nothing, the actual execution of the progressive income tax, does not now work, and probably never has worked, for the statistics tell the tale, that the rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer, as well as being fatefully dependent upon governmental handouts and subsidies for their meager existence, and those caught in the middle as well as those that play by the rules essentially pay for it all.