It's not about personal responsibility, or ancestral responsibility. Immigrants in the United States chose to become part of that country, with all the benefits, privileges, and responsibilities that entails.

edit: To make an analogy, if you move into a condo, and its roof needs to be replaced the next year, it's not your fault that the building's reserve fund can't cover the cost, but that doesn't exempt you from paying the special levy.

Agreed. But if I just moved in yesterday, I wouldn't be happy if other tenants cursed me out and blamed me personally for the fact that the reserve fund hadn't been funded for the last twenty years.

I don't see why not ? I also don't think we may not need Nordic country level taxation. Since the US treasury can print unlimited money and still see extremely low yields, why even raise taxes ?