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 ------- -------