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Thanks For Paying Taxes. Here's A Receipt.

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Re: Thanks For Paying Taxes. Here's A Receipt.

#11

Post by 1053r »

hugh3 wrote: post #5
japherwocky wrote: post #3

Take it one step further and let people specify what their money goes to. Automate the politicians!

It seems like a nice idea on the face of it, but apart from the inevitable chaos which comes from having budgets of government departments fluctuate wildly from year to year, I think it would lead to a world where government departments spend about half their time and money begging taxpayers for money. Every television ad for the first four months of the year would probably be some variation on: "Remember, the FBI do…

Honestly, the receipts for MOST businesses are fairly predictable (within 10-20%, at least), so why would we think that the government would be any different?

Also, I'm not sure why making government departments beg for money and have to live in the free market is on the face of it a bad thing. Would it be any different than the current system, where politicians beg us for money while promising to allocate our taxes a particular way, but then usually fail to follow through completely on? Having the departments beg for money directly seems more efficient somehow.

Of course, I think what would really suffer is bold new infrastructure programs. People would be willing to allocate money to roads once a couple high profile bridges collapse, but would we ever see a space elevator?

Re: Thanks For Paying Taxes. Here's A Receipt.

#12

Post by hugh3 »

ghotli wrote: post #9
hugh3 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems like a nice idea on the face of it, but apart from the inevitable chaos which comes from having budgets of government departments fluctuate wildly from year to year, I think it would lead to a world where government departments spend about half their time and money begging taxpayers for money. Every television ad for the first four months of the year would probably be some variation on: "Remember, the FBI do…

Seems like a happy medium would be that I get to choose where 10 or 5 percent of my taxes go. The politicians can expect a certain cut, with the rest we're empowered to fund what we believe in. I also don't realistically believe this will ever happen.

If you feel strongly about it, why not donate five or ten percent of your income to the government department of your choice?

Re: Thanks For Paying Taxes. Here's A Receipt.

#13

Post by ghotli »

hugh3 wrote: post #12
ghotli wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems like a happy medium would be that I get to choose where 10 or 5 percent of my taxes go. The politicians can expect a certain cut, with the rest we're empowered to fund what we believe in. I also don't realistically believe this will ever happen.

If you feel strongly about it, why not donate five or ten percent of your income to the government department of your choice?

Not a bad idea. Although, I wouldn't be surprised if there were regulations against this.

Re: Thanks For Paying Taxes. Here's A Receipt.

#14

Post by jonursenbach »

sportsTAKES wrote: post #7

Love this idea - Would also like to see: Return policy - don't like how much the government spent on Amtrak, get a refund (no questions asked). Customer loyalty program - earn points towards postage stamps or a national park pass. Discounts from partner programs - i.e., paying, loyal customers of the US government get discounts with China, GM, Goldman Sachs and other US 'partners'.

If there's a return policy then most people are going to be asking for a return on everything.

Re: Thanks For Paying Taxes. Here's A Receipt.

#15

Post by jsz0 »

I always thought it would be a good idea to let people decide how part of their tax dollars were going to be spent. Set aside maybe 20-30% and let them choose which programs to give extra funding to. I imagine most of it would end up in education and social programs.

Re: Thanks For Paying Taxes. Here's A Receipt.

#16

Post by Aetius »

hugh3 wrote: post #2

Not a bad idea. But why does it say "selected items"? I haven't added the numbers up myself, but one of the comments says that the listed things add up to only sixty-something percent of the total. Where's the other money gone? One might almost think they're trying to make a political point with their careful selection of items (eg. "Combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan" somehow got to fifth place on the list wh…

This is, after all, NPR...no surprise the war was prominent as they have a decidedly progressive news team. I won't call NPR liberal, but certainly left of center, and very critical (as they should be) of the wars.

Re: Thanks For Paying Taxes. Here's A Receipt.

#17

Post by hugh3 »

Aetius wrote: post #16
hugh3 wrote: post #2

Not a bad idea. But why does it say "selected items"? I haven't added the numbers up myself, but one of the comments says that the listed things add up to only sixty-something percent of the total. Where's the other money gone? One might almost think they're trying to make a political point with their careful selection of items (eg. "Combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan" somehow got to fifth place on the list wh…

This is, after all, NPR...no surprise the war was prominent as they have a decidedly progressive news team. I won't call NPR liberal, but certainly left of center, and very critical (as they should be) of the wars.

Your comment would have been much better without injecting your own political opinions on the matter via the parenthetical "as they should be".

Re: Thanks For Paying Taxes. Here's A Receipt.

#18

Post by zacharycohn »

jonursenbach wrote: post #14
sportsTAKES wrote: post #7

Love this idea - Would also like to see: Return policy - don't like how much the government spent on Amtrak, get a refund (no questions asked). Customer loyalty program - earn points towards postage stamps or a national park pass. Discounts from partner programs - i.e., paying, loyal customers of the US government get discounts with China, GM, Goldman Sachs and other US 'partners'.

If there's a return policy then most people are going to be asking for a return on everything .

The counter to that would be that you can only ask for one return per year.

The counter to THAT is that people would just ask for the largest amount to be returned to them (Take that, Social Security!)

Re: Thanks For Paying Taxes. Here's A Receipt.

#20

Post by japherwocky »

hugh3 wrote: post #5
japherwocky wrote: post #3

Take it one step further and let people specify what their money goes to. Automate the politicians!

It seems like a nice idea on the face of it, but apart from the inevitable chaos which comes from having budgets of government departments fluctuate wildly from year to year, I think it would lead to a world where government departments spend about half their time and money begging taxpayers for money. Every television ad for the first four months of the year would probably be some variation on: "Remember, the FBI do…

I'd rather see ads for the FBI than for political parties!
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