Are you kidding me? We started gaining debt over a century ago. U.S. National Debt by YearWe didn’t have this debt until Reagan slashed taxes without adjusting spending
Reagan keep the Debt/GDP ratio around 40% range, which was consistent since the New Deal. The largest part of the problem is that we have more and more people, and more and more of the "Great Society" programs expanding.
But overrall...you can see we didn't really have a debt issue prior to taxing income.