Taxes raise revenue to pay for things -- that's true for households, cities and states. It's even true for many countries. It's not true for the US Federal Government: as you can see, the debt that we send out is a representation of the value we add to the world economy.

US Federal taxes are not primarily paying for things. They are to encourage use of the dollar; to redistribute wealth; to act as tools of policy. The government needs to issue debt in quantities similar to the expansion rate of the economy: when less is issued, the economy will suffer, and when more is issued, inflation begins.