Journal timothy's Journal: Tax thought -- Check This Box To Further the Duopoly! 1
One of the few bright spots I find in the federal income tax form is the checkbox that one can tick to divert some money to a presidential campaign fund. (Short and sweet WP article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidential_Election_Campaign_Fund)
It's not because I like or approve of public funding of political campaigns (talk about adding insult to injury!), but because it gives a very small piece of tax-money decision-making to the people from whom the money is being taken in the first place; essentially it means the mechanism for collecting taxes functions also (albeit weakly) as a sort of self-executing referendum.
Given that I think publicly funded campaigns (not to mention income taxes per se) are an awful idea, I think there are better uses for such a checkbox, but all the same. Aiming for optimism here!
Thought experiment: How about a tax system that asked in the payment process a forward-looking question like this of anyone paying a net income tax:
"I do not approve an increase in my effective tax rate.[ ]" or
"I do approve an increase in my effective tax rate. [ ]"
Or,
"I want $3 of the amount assessed by means of this form to be used for the reduction of the national debt. [YES/NO]"
What do you think about using income tax forms (while there's an income tax system) to essentially ask people how the money being collected can / should be spent? What "Money for X / no money for X" questions do you think should be asked? (Or, if you think it's a bad idea to have such taxpayer discretion, Why?)
[Aside: asking taxpayers directly, rather than indirectly, how their collected monies should be spent could be done whether or not the underlying tax system is an income tax or some other form. I'm prompted to donate small amounts to charities, for instance, every time I visit the local Safeway grocery store.]
Good idea! (Score:2)
However, I don't think TPTB (whatever their political party) want to know the real answers to these questions. This is something we will not ever see, unfortunately. I find it difficult to be optimistic lately.