On Income Tax Day of 2015, David Boaz of the CATO Institute had an interesting piece published in the Washington Post suggesting the thread title:
We should get to decide how the government spends our taxes - The Washington Post
Boaz suggested a revised standarized income tax form in which the government would request a percentage of the taxes paid to go to specific programs and the taxpayer could agree to that or could increase or reduce that percentage or could designate a percentage of his taxes to pay down the national debt.
If the tax payers designate too little to fund a necessary program that would be detrimental to all if unfunded, Congress could override the taxpayers with a 2/3rds vote in the House and Senate. (I would make it mandatory that such a bill be stand alone with nothing else added to it.) Otherwise there would be no sacred cows. Everything from Obamacare to Head Start to drones to national parks would be subject to public opinion. There would also be an option to let the government decide where to put your money of course.
So what do you think? Would you like a chance to divert your tax dollars from those areas you think are getting too much of your money?
RULES FOR THIS DISCUSSION:
1. No ad hominem or personal insults. If you reference another member's post, direct your comments to what the member said in that post and not anything personal about the members intent, history, motive, thoughts, wants, hopes, etc. Keep it civil.
2. Links can be useful as informative or to support your argument, but they are not required. If you use them, please post only a representative paragraph or two that supports the point you also make in your own words or explain in your own words what the link will show or support.
3. Leave political parties and ideology (liberal, conservative, left , right, etc.) out of it please. This discussion focuses on changing the way we pay our taxes and what we spend our money on. Partisanship is not necessary to express our thoughts and opinions about that.
THE QUESTION TO BE DISCUSSED:
It is suggested that taxpayers should be able to direct where their taxes will be spent by their federal government with the government being able to override the taxpayer as necessary. What are the pros and cons you see to that suggestion?
We should get to decide how the government spends our taxes - The Washington Post
Boaz suggested a revised standarized income tax form in which the government would request a percentage of the taxes paid to go to specific programs and the taxpayer could agree to that or could increase or reduce that percentage or could designate a percentage of his taxes to pay down the national debt.
If the tax payers designate too little to fund a necessary program that would be detrimental to all if unfunded, Congress could override the taxpayers with a 2/3rds vote in the House and Senate. (I would make it mandatory that such a bill be stand alone with nothing else added to it.) Otherwise there would be no sacred cows. Everything from Obamacare to Head Start to drones to national parks would be subject to public opinion. There would also be an option to let the government decide where to put your money of course.
So what do you think? Would you like a chance to divert your tax dollars from those areas you think are getting too much of your money?
RULES FOR THIS DISCUSSION:
1. No ad hominem or personal insults. If you reference another member's post, direct your comments to what the member said in that post and not anything personal about the members intent, history, motive, thoughts, wants, hopes, etc. Keep it civil.
2. Links can be useful as informative or to support your argument, but they are not required. If you use them, please post only a representative paragraph or two that supports the point you also make in your own words or explain in your own words what the link will show or support.
3. Leave political parties and ideology (liberal, conservative, left , right, etc.) out of it please. This discussion focuses on changing the way we pay our taxes and what we spend our money on. Partisanship is not necessary to express our thoughts and opinions about that.
THE QUESTION TO BE DISCUSSED:
It is suggested that taxpayers should be able to direct where their taxes will be spent by their federal government with the government being able to override the taxpayer as necessary. What are the pros and cons you see to that suggestion?