kfl%mx.lcs.mit.edu@MC.LCS.MIT.EDU (08/23/86)
From: Lynn Gazis <SAPPHO@SRI-NIC.ARPA> ... [In this system] people pay the same taxes they do now but get to allocate them as they will ... instead of allocating the money on their tax forms (where the government could know what each individual's preferences were), they could fill out separate, anonymous allocation forms. This would preserve anonymity, at the price of making it easy for people to lie on their allocation forms ... Actually, there is a way to guarantee that everyone pays the right amount without allowing government to see what each individual allocated his money to. Each taxpayer would be issued a number of ballots proportional to the tax he pays, and would secretly fill them out and put them in a ballot box. I do not support this, but I do think it is better than the current system. The logical extension of this is to allow ANYONE to make up a new government program. Since nobody would HAVE to pay for it, why not? Why should taxpayers be compelled to choose among a limited selection? Surely it is possible that someone morally objects to ALL of the choices, so why not allow him to make up new ones? He has to pay the same amount of money anyhow, right? ...Keith -------
sappho@SRI-NIC.ARPA (08/23/86)
To: KFL%MX.LCS.MIT.EDU@MC.LCS.MIT.EDU Yes, that would work. I can't think of any reason to adopt that system and not allow people to make up new choices. It's less convenient for the government to allow that, but if one cares more about the convenience of the government than people's freedom to choose where their money goes, then there would be no reason to adopt fixed taxes with choice among programs to begin with. Lynn Gazis sappho@sri-nic ------- -------
kfl%mx.lcs.mit.edu@mc.lcs.mit.edu (08/25/86)
From: Lynn Gazis <SAPPHO@SRI-NIC.ARPA> Yes, that would work. I can't think of any reason to adopt that system and not allow people to make up new choices. ... What would keep a person from making a direct government grant to himself a government project, and earmarking all of his tax money for that project? ...Keith -------
sappho@SRI-NIC.ARPA (08/25/86)
To: KFL%MX.LCS.MIT.EDU@MC.LCS.MIT.EDU Well, that particular choice could simply be ruled out. But then people could do the same thing indirectly by exchanging taxes, each giving a direct grant to the other. You could rule out direct grants to individuals. But to some extent the ability to use your tax money selectively to benefit yourself is inherent in any system which allows you to choose where your tax money goes, even if people aren't allowed to make up their own programs. Another problem with having people create their own programs would be that you could wind up, for instance, with some people spending their tax money on military aid to the Sandinistas while others spent theirs on military aid to the contras. I guess that individual programs could only be allowed if there were restrictions. Allowing individual groups of citizens to give military aid to any country or terrorist organization of their choice would not be acceptable. (I am still only thinking of things it is now legal for our government to do, and I am not thrilled about the fact that our government can give any weapons it chooses to any government or terrorist group it chooses. So don't throw back at me the argument that individuals have the same rights as the government.) Lynn Gazis sappho@sri-nic ------- -------