It can't guarantee it will get profits from free market activity many will be able to get out of tax. When the government trades internationally it becomes a free market enterprise and it guarantees income. By only receiving income from the domestic free market it is limiting itself to a cut of the domestic economy as opposed to the global economy.
It's more a case of it being done in the past and being successful and that recent governments have stopped doing it (earning their own money) and become a racket that takes money from the population. The other place they take money from is future income when they get into debt. Since governments stopped their new product development programs and industrial innovations the economy has become indebted and tax rates have risen. There is another way governments can make money, the old fashioned way, make their own.
They never stopped "making" their own money. That is what got us in the mess we are in. Wake up and smell the stale coffee.
Do you mean by printing it? That is not what I mean. I mean by producing products and selling to the rest of the world. The government is an organisation. It can make money (meaning generate income) on its own, it can produce goods and sell goods. It can support entrepreneurs and get a cut of international trade. It can revamp its own systems, make efficiencies and then sell the process to other countries. Then other countries get the efficiencies and the government generates income. This business development must be increased.
I think what you want is exactly what Communist countries (e.g. Venezuela) do. History is not on your (their) side.
No it is completely different. It is when the government becomes involved in free market trade and international trade through commercialisation of new innovations and through patent and contract ownership. The government merely owns the licence to use the product and receive commissions for its use. The entrepreneur approaches the government for regulatory and international relations support.
Here is the original article that was linked to this post. http://morganisteconomics.blogspot.com/2018/08/trade-is-better-than-tax.html
I agree with you. Tax is an easy way and a short cut to make money. The governments need to put their focus on trade instead. The plus side of trading is that it creates good relations with the trading country and people. It makes you an ally in times of need.
The market is no longer free when the entity that produces goods also set the rules, and has monopolistic power to tax imports from competitors.