But what's the point of investing in an income fund and reinvesting the dividend? Yes, that's going to give you a better total return, but if you are going for Total Return you should be investing in stocks.

Moreover, it is tax-inefficient since you have the drag of paying income tax on the dividends every year.

Here is a backtest & chart for PONRX (PIMCO Income Fund for retirement plans) with and without reinvesting dividends and SPY. testfol.io: Portfolio Backtester for ETFs and Asset Allocation

If you took the dividends as spending income then the principal amount did not grow, and you collected total a bit more than your initial investment from 4/2/2007 to now.

But SPY in the same period grew 3 times more than PONRX with reinvested dividends.

I keep going 'round and 'round over this subject.
"Buy an income fund for the juicy income?"
"Yes!!"
"But the total return stinks unless you reinvest the dividends."
"So reinvest the dividends."
"But if I reinvest the dividends then I don't see the income. And the whole idea was to get a steady, juicy income. So I should have bought a stock fund in the first place."
"Dang!"