For example with USD, this also requires not just transacting in USD once a year, but hedging in the national currency, as many crypto earners and traders are learning. If you get paid 1 BTC when BTC is worth $50k, you really should sell and hold 15-50% of it immediately to cover your tax obligation. If the price drops to $20k, you can sell and book a $30k loss, but you may only be able to deduct $3k of it against your $50k in income, leaving you in a bad spot come April 15.

I would want to exchange peanuts and consequently owe no taxes. That is why the US has very complicated rules to discourage bartering and gives every sign it would complicate and eventually outlaw quid-pro-quo family/friend arrangements for things like child and elder care if large and powerful groups of people weren't still extended family oriented.

> I would want to exchange peanuts and consequently owe no taxes.

This idea is at odds with the concept of the modern nation state. You can't have running state institutions and an army that, in theory, should provide some level of security of the state borders. Having many groups of people, each exchanging peanuts, beans or stones would lead to a decreased level of trust and no concept of national unity.

I don't get your point or you don't get mine. The individual individual's incentives are to have benefits without them being measurable income so Tax being about dollars makes dollars less desirable without many more actions from the state to force dollar measurable transactions.

> This idea is at odds with the concept of the modern nation state.

Good.

Genuinely curious here: has anyone actually proposed making family helping with childcare illegal (or perhaps taxed?)

Even if it’s just an economist weirdo I’d be curious to see what the argument is there

The exceptions in the rules here for example are almost certainly directly constructed by Congress or anger from Congress and not particularly consistent with how the IRS expands laws by expanding existing theories if left alone:

https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employe...

Most IRS rulings and much of tax law itself are to try to patch over loopholes that are being exploited (the very page describes the various checks they have in place).