In later columns, I may address some of the esoteric changes that appear to be on the Trump agenda, but first it is critical to understand taxes that are assigned at the sovereign level conceptually, because without that understanding nothing else will make sense. When a company pays income taxes on behalf of its employees by way of payroll withholding, although we refer to that as an income tax, it is simply the company acting as a preemptive conduit for and agent of the federal government to pay for individual’s consumption of government services.