WHEN I was young, there was one time of year when I knew not to interrupt my father for any reason. On a given weekend in early spring, he could be located--cigarette in hand, sharpened pencils and pad of paper nearby--at the kitchen table. The door was shut to the rest of the household as he pored over federal and state tax forms, receipts, and the year's income statements.

It was advisable not to have any friends over to play, not even down in the basement or out in the backyard. Yet after the process was completed and he learned the final verdict--a refund or an additional check to be written--it was over and done with for the year.

There was no wailing about the unfairness of the system or how government was robbing us blind. How aid to Europe or the poor, or the maintenance of military bases around the world after World War II, was an unnecessary expense. How the building of schools for all those new Baby Boom children and the hiring of additional teachers were too costly. How Social Security was a form of communism.

He had grown up during the Great Depression and was a WWII veteran. He was to be employed by every branch of the military over a long government career, he paid his taxes, he sent his children to college. He voted for Richard Nixon three times.

Looking at just two basic comparisons of top federal income tax rates in 1955 and 2012, it surprises me that there wasn't a great deal more grumbling and frowning going on in that smoke-filled kitchen. The top rate on regular income in 1955 was 91 percent; by 2011, it was 40 percent. The top rate on capital gains in 1955 was 25 percent; by 2011, it was 20 percent.

In the interim, the government added more so-called entitlements (Medicaid and Medicare the most obvious ones) to the mix. Federal loan programs were created to provide access to a college education, and to help people--such as veterans--attain the American dream of home ownership.