- May 12, 2001
- 12,452
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Okay here goes I know we all have different ideas about taxes and revenue and how it's spent and all that and wanted to have a sounding board for a few ideas. That's why it's here in DC and not in P&N.
First off, let me say i'm still developing my pint of view on a lot of things so please be gentle. I'm going to lay out each sub-idea with a number, so if you reply, please reference and use that number in your reply so we can keep the subtopics separate.
1) I'd propose that congress doesn't get to vote on actual dollar amounts for the budget, they get to vote and decide on percentages. The percentage would be for the current(or subsequent) fiscal year and obviously couldn't exceed 100%. This would help us get back on board with out of control deficit spending. I suppose it doesn't matter if they vote per project or maybe just per department.
2) Stupidly simplify the federal personal income tax. No different categories for married/head of household/etc. You either earned money or you didn't. Make it a simple 10% from all sources derived. That's IT. No deductions, no games. Salary*.1 = your taxes. States are free to do their own thing still and give their citizens rebates for federal tax paid for people under the poverty line or something... But since everyone derives the same benefit from the federal government, it should be the same.
EDIT- i didn't make myself clear, this is a replacement for federal income tax, FICA, medicare, etc. Total federal revenue from income would be 10%
2a) Implement a federal sales tax of 1%. In state, intrastate, internet, whatever.
3) A lot of people don't like spending money because they feel it's wasted in the bureaucracy, or it goes to projects they think are pointless. If there were a way to have the citizens chose more directly where their tax dollars went I think people might feel better about contributing. We could find out which departments/projects the people really want or which ones are just pet projects of our politicians. Possibly a list of departments with checkboxes next to them of where they'd like to see their money go. Or just leave it blank and let congress decide. each citzen gets to choose where maybe 50% of the money goes and congress gets to decide the rest?
Take these ideas individual or together. I'm a self-described libertarian. I think taxes are theft. However, i do understand that we operate in a society and SOME revenue is required for the government to function. And while i'd love to see all "taxes"(government revenue) be voluntary, i'm trying to be realistic but move in that direction. This would obviously disrupt the federal budget and shrink it. The more local the government the better. Push the revenue to the states no the fed. Push the revenue to the counties, not the states. Push it to the localities so people can vote with their feet and we can experiment on a smaller scale.
First off, let me say i'm still developing my pint of view on a lot of things so please be gentle. I'm going to lay out each sub-idea with a number, so if you reply, please reference and use that number in your reply so we can keep the subtopics separate.
1) I'd propose that congress doesn't get to vote on actual dollar amounts for the budget, they get to vote and decide on percentages. The percentage would be for the current(or subsequent) fiscal year and obviously couldn't exceed 100%. This would help us get back on board with out of control deficit spending. I suppose it doesn't matter if they vote per project or maybe just per department.
2) Stupidly simplify the federal personal income tax. No different categories for married/head of household/etc. You either earned money or you didn't. Make it a simple 10% from all sources derived. That's IT. No deductions, no games. Salary*.1 = your taxes. States are free to do their own thing still and give their citizens rebates for federal tax paid for people under the poverty line or something... But since everyone derives the same benefit from the federal government, it should be the same.
EDIT- i didn't make myself clear, this is a replacement for federal income tax, FICA, medicare, etc. Total federal revenue from income would be 10%
2a) Implement a federal sales tax of 1%. In state, intrastate, internet, whatever.
3) A lot of people don't like spending money because they feel it's wasted in the bureaucracy, or it goes to projects they think are pointless. If there were a way to have the citizens chose more directly where their tax dollars went I think people might feel better about contributing. We could find out which departments/projects the people really want or which ones are just pet projects of our politicians. Possibly a list of departments with checkboxes next to them of where they'd like to see their money go. Or just leave it blank and let congress decide. each citzen gets to choose where maybe 50% of the money goes and congress gets to decide the rest?
Take these ideas individual or together. I'm a self-described libertarian. I think taxes are theft. However, i do understand that we operate in a society and SOME revenue is required for the government to function. And while i'd love to see all "taxes"(government revenue) be voluntary, i'm trying to be realistic but move in that direction. This would obviously disrupt the federal budget and shrink it. The more local the government the better. Push the revenue to the states no the fed. Push the revenue to the counties, not the states. Push it to the localities so people can vote with their feet and we can experiment on a smaller scale.
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