My Immodest Proposal
John Robinson
truthfl@gmail.com
01.01.15
It is possible to create a 21st Century Tax Code that will re-found our country closer to our founder's intentions, provide a bulwark against future leftism, make peace between the Left and the Right, and restore sanity to all of our lives. All that is required is for one to take the first step, and understand that it is We The People that tax ourselves, and that it is We The People that should decide how to do it.
If the 21st century has taught us anything, it's how to de-centralize a society. The Internet now allows us - has taught us - how to organize our society in new and interesting ways. And ways that allow us to actually further the vision of our founders, instead of subverting it. The internet (r)evolution has been an individual (r)evolution; it's time that we took advantage of these new frameworks and began the fundamental (r)evolution of America.
This is an idea in TWO parts.
The first part, is to have the government underwrite the secure transfer of funds between points, ensuring that the mechanics of this system can be used without cost, for everyone. Then, we can reduce the entire US tax code to one simple line:
"A 1% tax is assessed on all outgoing transactions from US bank accounts".
This will mean, in practice...
Your employer will pay 1% to transfer money to you - either through check, electronic transfer, or conversion to cash. You will pay no tax to deposit this money. When you pay your cellphone bill, buy groceries, pay the babysitter - either through check, electronic transfer, or conversion to cash - you will pay 1%.
The tax is assessed at the bank level, exactly like ATM fees. The banks already have the accounting software to handle this. It would be completely transparent, predictable, and stable. Auditing several thousand banks will be far easier than 300 million people
Several things will then occur:
1) The treasury will immediately begin taking in more money; 1% of all financial transactions in the country is a huge amount, by any estimate. (Which should keep the Left happy for at least a few years.)
2) The economy will explode as it becomes completely unburdened from an 18th century tax code. Hiring will go through the roof, as companies can immediately hire anybody, at any time, for no cost, with no paperwork or payroll taxes.
3) Everyone will always be 100% in compliance. You will never, ever, ever have to worry about whether or not you are following the tax code ever again. In fact, it will become impossible for an individual to *not* be in compliance. The banks will handle all the auditing and payments. Disputes over taxes will occur between the IRS and bank representatives in boring meetings that we never need to hear about.
4) No one will ever have to file anything again. Ever. You will never have to reveal any personal details about your life or business to a bureaucrat again. No more ridiculous forms. No more audits. No more deadlines. Ever.
5) No one will ever be targeted again for their politics. The tax code will not care what you do, how you are employed, who you're married to, how many kids you have, or how you vote.
6) The entire IRS could be reduced to handful of employees and a few servers in some basement in DC that no one ever needs to see or hear from.
7) We will eventually capture alot of black market transactions, as well - so when you take cash out of an ATM to pay your heroin dealer, we'll get 1% of that, too.
8) Companies like Google will have no incentive to take jobs or money out of the country.
9) It provides a slight nudge to encourage savings... money is not taxed, unless it is spent. So, in reality, the tax is "optional"... you only pay it, if you spend.
10) The tax code will be as broad, flat, low, and as utterly fair as is mathematically possible. Poor people will pay less, rich people will pay more. Corporations, even more than that. Nobody will ever pay more than they spend.
11) The government will then become invested in a good economy, and completely agnostic as to how that happens. There will be no reason to punish one industry or subsidize another. The tax code will be like the house at a casino - making money whether people win or lose, and just encouraging people to keep playing.
12) Having the government underwrite the *mechanism* behind monetary transfers means the cost of processing transactions drops to zero. Which means that micropayments for goods will become possible, and a whole new level of entrepreneurship will be created.
13) It will pressure credit card companies to lower their rates and fees substantially, as other cheaper, more convenient, forms of payment will sprout.
It's okay to take a breath and let all that sink in for a moment. It's alot.
Now, let's use what we have learned from the Internet, de-centralization, and crowd-funding to take things a step further.
Part Two.
First, divide the entire budget into two: the constitutional side, which funds the bare-bones, constitutionally-required functions of government. And the discretionary side, which has all the various programs and projects that we've been working on for decades that aren't explicitly constitutionally required.
Then, instead of a 1% tax - take 2%. Take half of that extra percent and send it back to the state where the transaction originated from. This will encourage states to drop all of their taxes, too. All of the positive effects above, will be replicated at a state level. Take the other half a percent and put it into a giant pool of cash called the Common Fund. Then, every election, we all vote on how we want the Common Fund divided up, giving our top ten priorities. Using this approach, we can turn a huge portion of government discretionary funding into, essentially, a crowd-funding app. A Kickstarter for government, if you will. People will be directly (and voluntarily) supporting parts of the government that they believe in...or not. So, if you want to explore space, send funding to NASA. If you want to support green energy, you can send some money there. If you support stem cell research, you can send money there.
As ideas and organizations fall out of step and become dysfunctional, support for them will naturally wane and they will dry up on their own. Government services will now have to compete for funding and be held directly accountable by The People for the effectiveness of their actions. And when an organization doesn't get funding anymore and gets shuttered, no one will care because it will be obvious why. So, there won't be any fighting as agencies disappear or are replaced. A graceful exit, as it were.
Lobbyists will become virtually non-existent. Instead, you'll see advertising agencies that create ads around election time for government agencies, begging for contributions from voters. It will turn the act of lobbying into something resembling a yearly PBS funding drive.
The biggest effect, though, will be on the character of the electorate. We will fight over government functions and expenditures much, much, less. I know that seems craziest of all... but if all of our support for government becomes voluntary, what is there to fight about, really?
(In truth, that was always collectivism's dirty secret - we only fight over the things we collectivize. Which is why leftism breeds disharmony. But I digress.)
If a flaming leftist wants to support 999 weeks of unemployment compensation...he can donate his money directly to the cause. If I don't, I don't need to. (And, consequently, it makes me a hypocrite if I apply for benefits.) Maybe I think the money is better spent on a major construction project to provide jobs, or even a moon colony. But the point is - we'll never have to fight about it. We can both walk away feeling that we've contributed to the country in the best way possible, and that we weren't forced to support something we hated or conflicted with our values.
If you don't want to fund stem cell research, you don't have to. And if you want to send your money into cancer research - you can. Left and Right will be able to run their own "flavors" of America in parallel; collaborating, instead of fighting. In fact, we may even get empirical proof of which one is more successful, as leftist compassion will suddenly have to be paid for with leftists' own money; imagine how much fun *that* world would be to live in.
Ultimately, this also means it will require very little cost or effort to transition and change and morph our government as we see fit. Programs can be created and canceled with ease, constantly evolving and changing to better serve the people and reflect *their* priorities, with very little disturbance to the entire system. Think of it like free market government.
After the 2024 election, we will have a historic opportunity to take this antiquated, regressive, oppressive tax system from the last failed Progressive era and finally stuff it into the trash can of history where it belongs. And by implementing the transaction tax and de-centralized budgeting I described above, we will transform our society into a modern 21st century America our founders would be proud of. (Jefferson would certainly be chuckling, and even Hamilton would probably be onboard after seeing what became of the federalized system.)
There may never be another chance to do this for another 100 years...it's time to go big, or go home.
John Robinson
truthfl@gmail.com
01.01.15
It is possible to create a 21st Century Tax Code that will re-found our country closer to our founder's intentions, provide a bulwark against future leftism, make peace between the Left and the Right, and restore sanity to all of our lives. All that is required is for one to take the first step, and understand that it is We The People that tax ourselves, and that it is We The People that should decide how to do it.
If the 21st century has taught us anything, it's how to de-centralize a society. The Internet now allows us - has taught us - how to organize our society in new and interesting ways. And ways that allow us to actually further the vision of our founders, instead of subverting it. The internet (r)evolution has been an individual (r)evolution; it's time that we took advantage of these new frameworks and began the fundamental (r)evolution of America.
This is an idea in TWO parts.
The first part, is to have the government underwrite the secure transfer of funds between points, ensuring that the mechanics of this system can be used without cost, for everyone. Then, we can reduce the entire US tax code to one simple line:
"A 1% tax is assessed on all outgoing transactions from US bank accounts".
This will mean, in practice...
Your employer will pay 1% to transfer money to you - either through check, electronic transfer, or conversion to cash. You will pay no tax to deposit this money. When you pay your cellphone bill, buy groceries, pay the babysitter - either through check, electronic transfer, or conversion to cash - you will pay 1%.
The tax is assessed at the bank level, exactly like ATM fees. The banks already have the accounting software to handle this. It would be completely transparent, predictable, and stable. Auditing several thousand banks will be far easier than 300 million people
Several things will then occur:
1) The treasury will immediately begin taking in more money; 1% of all financial transactions in the country is a huge amount, by any estimate. (Which should keep the Left happy for at least a few years.)
2) The economy will explode as it becomes completely unburdened from an 18th century tax code. Hiring will go through the roof, as companies can immediately hire anybody, at any time, for no cost, with no paperwork or payroll taxes.
3) Everyone will always be 100% in compliance. You will never, ever, ever have to worry about whether or not you are following the tax code ever again. In fact, it will become impossible for an individual to *not* be in compliance. The banks will handle all the auditing and payments. Disputes over taxes will occur between the IRS and bank representatives in boring meetings that we never need to hear about.
4) No one will ever have to file anything again. Ever. You will never have to reveal any personal details about your life or business to a bureaucrat again. No more ridiculous forms. No more audits. No more deadlines. Ever.
5) No one will ever be targeted again for their politics. The tax code will not care what you do, how you are employed, who you're married to, how many kids you have, or how you vote.
6) The entire IRS could be reduced to handful of employees and a few servers in some basement in DC that no one ever needs to see or hear from.
7) We will eventually capture alot of black market transactions, as well - so when you take cash out of an ATM to pay your heroin dealer, we'll get 1% of that, too.
8) Companies like Google will have no incentive to take jobs or money out of the country.
9) It provides a slight nudge to encourage savings... money is not taxed, unless it is spent. So, in reality, the tax is "optional"... you only pay it, if you spend.
10) The tax code will be as broad, flat, low, and as utterly fair as is mathematically possible. Poor people will pay less, rich people will pay more. Corporations, even more than that. Nobody will ever pay more than they spend.
11) The government will then become invested in a good economy, and completely agnostic as to how that happens. There will be no reason to punish one industry or subsidize another. The tax code will be like the house at a casino - making money whether people win or lose, and just encouraging people to keep playing.
12) Having the government underwrite the *mechanism* behind monetary transfers means the cost of processing transactions drops to zero. Which means that micropayments for goods will become possible, and a whole new level of entrepreneurship will be created.
13) It will pressure credit card companies to lower their rates and fees substantially, as other cheaper, more convenient, forms of payment will sprout.
It's okay to take a breath and let all that sink in for a moment. It's alot.
Now, let's use what we have learned from the Internet, de-centralization, and crowd-funding to take things a step further.
Part Two.
First, divide the entire budget into two: the constitutional side, which funds the bare-bones, constitutionally-required functions of government. And the discretionary side, which has all the various programs and projects that we've been working on for decades that aren't explicitly constitutionally required.
Then, instead of a 1% tax - take 2%. Take half of that extra percent and send it back to the state where the transaction originated from. This will encourage states to drop all of their taxes, too. All of the positive effects above, will be replicated at a state level. Take the other half a percent and put it into a giant pool of cash called the Common Fund. Then, every election, we all vote on how we want the Common Fund divided up, giving our top ten priorities. Using this approach, we can turn a huge portion of government discretionary funding into, essentially, a crowd-funding app. A Kickstarter for government, if you will. People will be directly (and voluntarily) supporting parts of the government that they believe in...or not. So, if you want to explore space, send funding to NASA. If you want to support green energy, you can send some money there. If you support stem cell research, you can send money there.
As ideas and organizations fall out of step and become dysfunctional, support for them will naturally wane and they will dry up on their own. Government services will now have to compete for funding and be held directly accountable by The People for the effectiveness of their actions. And when an organization doesn't get funding anymore and gets shuttered, no one will care because it will be obvious why. So, there won't be any fighting as agencies disappear or are replaced. A graceful exit, as it were.
Lobbyists will become virtually non-existent. Instead, you'll see advertising agencies that create ads around election time for government agencies, begging for contributions from voters. It will turn the act of lobbying into something resembling a yearly PBS funding drive.
The biggest effect, though, will be on the character of the electorate. We will fight over government functions and expenditures much, much, less. I know that seems craziest of all... but if all of our support for government becomes voluntary, what is there to fight about, really?
(In truth, that was always collectivism's dirty secret - we only fight over the things we collectivize. Which is why leftism breeds disharmony. But I digress.)
If a flaming leftist wants to support 999 weeks of unemployment compensation...he can donate his money directly to the cause. If I don't, I don't need to. (And, consequently, it makes me a hypocrite if I apply for benefits.) Maybe I think the money is better spent on a major construction project to provide jobs, or even a moon colony. But the point is - we'll never have to fight about it. We can both walk away feeling that we've contributed to the country in the best way possible, and that we weren't forced to support something we hated or conflicted with our values.
If you don't want to fund stem cell research, you don't have to. And if you want to send your money into cancer research - you can. Left and Right will be able to run their own "flavors" of America in parallel; collaborating, instead of fighting. In fact, we may even get empirical proof of which one is more successful, as leftist compassion will suddenly have to be paid for with leftists' own money; imagine how much fun *that* world would be to live in.
Ultimately, this also means it will require very little cost or effort to transition and change and morph our government as we see fit. Programs can be created and canceled with ease, constantly evolving and changing to better serve the people and reflect *their* priorities, with very little disturbance to the entire system. Think of it like free market government.
After the 2024 election, we will have a historic opportunity to take this antiquated, regressive, oppressive tax system from the last failed Progressive era and finally stuff it into the trash can of history where it belongs. And by implementing the transaction tax and de-centralized budgeting I described above, we will transform our society into a modern 21st century America our founders would be proud of. (Jefferson would certainly be chuckling, and even Hamilton would probably be onboard after seeing what became of the federalized system.)
There may never be another chance to do this for another 100 years...it's time to go big, or go home.
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