Voting Every Tax Dollar

I’ve heard ideas that dance around this main issue discussed on this platform by our hosts and their guests, but none seem to have hit the nail directly on the head.  So, allow me to elaborate.  What follows is a system that allows the American Taxpayer to vote with every dollar in taxes that they send to the Federal Government.  In terms of taxation, we have been being railroaded on tax levels for far too many years and our collective voices in relation to the business of the people has not been faithfully represented.  I believe it’s time to end the literal extortion of the American Taxpayer.  The plan is a little involved, but stick with me…

The Premise:

Our representative leaders in the House who control fiscal appropriations have consistently and without fail over the past several decades proven themselves wholly incapable of effectively managing the financial affairs of our country.  I’m confident in my accusation and can list twenty-two-trillion reasons and counting as to why this is obvious to everyone who cares to consider the matter.  The inclusion in this discussion of unfunded liabilities and the inefficiency of tracking federal defense spending, an organization who seemed to have misplaced a similar number of trillions, only magnifies the evidence by a factor of six or more.

The Representative Republic Component – representatives set the priorities into budget items and budget groups.

Under this strategy, the elected representatives would prioritize government funding of all matters Federal into budget items and prioritize the items into budget groups.  Each item would be a bundle of funds that are allocated for a specific purpose, and/or to a government bureau, much as they are currently.  However, each item would be assigned a priority in which they will be funded if and when funds fall to each group general fund.  In addition, each allocated item would also be assigned to a group and the groups would be allotted a tax credit according to its importance in the function of government and the business of the American People.  After that, the representative’s job in terms of funding allocation is done, over, concluded.  “Settled science”, so that the other half can relate.

To summarize, the representatives list budget items in priority order which are assigned a tax-credit level then organized into tax-credit groups such as 100% – 90 % – 80% etc…

The Democratic component – each individual taxpayer chooses their own allocation

The taxpayer, having had priorities assigned by those representatives expected to become and stay more informed on issues and requirements of the business of the American people, now choose among the several and various items which are important to them as taxpayers.  The groups of items would be assigned a percentage of tax credit they will receive for their taxes due that year.

For instance, a segment in the first group of the highest priority might be the national defense fund.  Being of highest priority, it would be credited a 100% tax credit for any funds assigned to it by its code, DEF-001 for the “National Defense General Fund”, or something similar.  The taxpayer would choose and assign a percentage of the taxes they have calculated to owe, or pay in advance each quarter as with business persons.

The codes would be listed on the back of the blessedly short form that results from calculating the flat tax after any expenses were deducted from personal or corporate revenue which were used to directly benefit the process of producing those revenues.  (Granted, the flat tax, while related, is a wholly separate topic, but I couldn’t resist.)

The back of their postcard sized tax return might look like this:

Code	Alloc.	Conf Label	Conf Tax Credit
DEF-001	30%	National Defense Gen Fund	100%
EDU-001	30%	National General Ed Fund	90%
SSA-003	20%	Social Sec. Children’s Fund	80%
MED-001	20%	Nat. Health Care Gen Fund	90%

There will likely be a difference between the amount of tax that they will calculate on their own tax return and what they actually owe depending upon how they choose to allocate their taxes among items that earn a 100% tax credit or lower.  The amount of tax collected from paychecks or 1099 ES quarterly might need to be 15% versus the flat 10% due at the end of the year with a calculation by the IRS to determine the difference issued as a refund or an additional amount due.  The thing that would have to go with a lower percentage flat tax is the premise that, if your show a profit over your expenses, then everyone pays.  All individuals, all business activities, all corporations; everyone.  I listed one caveat at the end of this article for low-income individuals that could prove effective also.

Each time a lower tax credit group is selected, the tax payer knows they are raising their own taxes since the amount they send in is only covering 80 or 90% of the taxes owed for that allocation, or lower in lower priority groups.  The point for this is that the taxpayer knows in advance what is available and what they are likely to choose.  The representatives know in advance how they have set the priorities and as people pay their taxes, especially those who pay 1099 ES quarterly, how much funding is going to be available to that item, and when overfunded, what might drop to the general fund and become available within that group.  Good Lord, one might call it transparent…  I certainly can’t imagine anything more opaque, misleading, and open for corruption than the 70,000 page tax-code we have currently.

The Failsafe – overfunding of items drops to the general fund for that group

Any overfunding per item would fall to that section’s general fund to be assigned in priority order to the items within at group (100% to other 100%, 90% to 90%, etc) at the end of the fiscal year.  Full-funding level for any budget item could be determined by the average of three years including the prior, current, and next year’s planned budget which would be subject to audit and scrutiny.  Funding limit increases for each item might also be assigned by and subject to a vote of the House.  Once fully funded by voter allocation, the overfunding of each item falls to the general fund for that group which would be made available to the other items in the group in priority order at the end of the fiscal year.  Any excess funding of the group at the end of the fiscal year with all of the items fully funded for that group would fall to the general fund of the next group in priority order.

In this way, the American Taxpayer with every tax dollar they send in, registers their pleasure to fund each item with the representative Congress in rather direct and incontrovertible fashion.

In addition, any item residing in a group assigned less than 100% tax credit by the House that is fully funded for three consecutive years is automatically upgraded to the next higher tax-credit group.  So, even though something may be assigned an 80% tax-credit, there is nothing stopping the American People from upgrading it to 100% by fully funding it for six consecutive years. 

Such testing allows the American people to upgrade their own tax credit through lobbying and marketing for their pet projects.  Similar rules might apply to lowering the tax credit, possibly for a slightly longer lack of funding support such as five years.  A vote of Congress would also be available to raise the tax credit group assigned to an item but no such vote would be permitted to assign a fully funded item chosen consecutively by the American People to a lower tax-credit group.

I have issued this analysis and strategy to other news and commentary sources whose work I respect.  To date none have picked up on it, which might beg the question “why not take a hint?”  I’m an American.  I’m stubborn, determined, pissed, and not resigned to sit by and watch idiots screw with my country and my fellow freemen.  I’d enjoy hearing commentary and discussion on the ideas above and how we might get initiatives and referendums into enough states to get these plans or something similar or related cast into law.  Our “intellectual and moral betters” who run for office and derive their power which they often broker for their own gain from skimming the cream off the top of our 350-million citizen barrel will never vote anything into law that would interfere with their power-structure.

If our representatives want more funding for more government programs, let them learn economics so that they pass legislation that benefits the economy and grows the GDP rather than hampers it.  They can learn to take a smaller slice of a much bigger pie, or we can simply insist that they do and have them learn from the obvious evidence that results.  Thanks for following me down the rabbit hole…

Respectfully Yours,

David Pandone
Independent Wealth Strategist
Author: MoneySmart Personal Finance Solutions, 2^nd Ed.

 

Other related ideas:

To add a bit of considerable weight to the discussion of changing the tax code, since many of us here at BillWhittle.com are Christian, here is what our Lord speaking through the prophet Ezekiel (OT) and through James (NT) had to say in instruction to the Jewish leadership:

Ezekiel 45:8-10 – … my princes shall no more oppress my people… 9: Thus saith the Lord GOD; Let it suffice you, O princes of Israel: remove violence and spoil, and execute judgment and justice, take away your exactions from my people, saith the Lord GOD.  10: Ye shall have just balances…

“Violence and spoil… exactions” or extortion at the point of government power and threats.

James 5:1-4  1:  Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.  2:  Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.  3:  Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.  4:  Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.

“…ye rich men… your miseries that shall come upon you …kept back by fraud… and the cries of them… into the ears of the Lord” saying that much has been done to defraud the people of their earnings and God sees it and has plans for a reckoning.  While James 5:3 inserts into the discussion the devaluation of currency through its own heinous series of underhanded manipulations, it also relates still other means of how those in power subject and extort from the common people that which they have earned and with which our Lord, God, and Creator has blessed each of us according to our abilities.  After all, all good things come from God, including our ability to support ourselves and our families.

Low income persons, whose specific description might be argued (less than national average income, below certain income limits, etc.) can elect a zero percent tax class in exchange for their right to vote.  To help the person and family get on its feet and improve their economic standing, rather than collecting and redistributing wealth and its associated wasteful government costs, simply leave 10-15% of what would have been collected in taxes with the person or family until they are better able to participate fully as a citizen.  Not the government’s choice, but the citizen’s choice.

They have the right to concede their own input for their own financial benefit and boost, an option not available to everyone, just those who are economically burdened.  They might concede their right to vote, but with an immediate and substantial financial boost with plenty of freedom to continue to lobby, demonstrate, campaign, and democratically carry on their activities to influence and sway the opinion of other voters still directly connected to the process.

Also:

In comparison to our current tax code, the above listed strategies are infinitely simpler except for a predictably long list of permissible deductions.  Deductions which would simply be determined for individuals, business activities, and corporations as “those budget items whose cost contributed directly to generating the revenue associated with the activity that year”.  This 70,000 pages of ticky-tack horseshit they call a tax code now is simply the opportunity clause for the resulting extortion.  Your list of deductions would be, and should be, subject to audit and supported by written proof in receipts and other similar documentation.

Such as:               

“What were your total auto expenses this past year?”  $____
“How many miles can you document for purely business use?”  ____
(5^th grade math problems ensue and result in a dollar amount deduction)

Add to that a possibility for a choice to elect to pay either an Income Tax, or a VAT tax (value added tax) a situation which results in government only getting ONE BITE at our apple.  Currently, we’re taxed:

• before we see paychecks,
• on every dollar determined “earned income”
• each year if we own property,
• on nearly every dollar spent as sales tax
• in capital gains if investments show profits
• in estate taxes after we expire
• on inherited money if we’re so fortunate
• and others, I’m certain…

Our government entities take so many bites at our apple it’s no wonder the economy is suffering.  The economy is more robust with a higher “velocity of money” (how quickly money changes hands when people actually have some).  That was the idea behind the Trump tax cuts, to leave people with more money to work with.  We felt the bump in the road, but we need to do more of it so that people have more disposable income.

I don’t see why that state and local governments shouldn’t run on a similar system.  Considering every sale of just about every item in exchange for every dollar we earn that we are permitted access to is burdened by a tax, or extortion of the money we earn often more than once, in one manner or another.  It’s high time, considering the increased attention of the American voter of late, to sponsor this discussion in some forum.