Voting with Taxes

Turn on the news and you’ll likely hear a random politician declare with self-assurance: “The American people don’t want their taxes paying for …” War in Libya. Bank bailouts. Socialized medicine. Aid to Pakistan. Abortions. Farm subsidies. You fill in the blank. How does a politician know what Americans really want (beyond the lobbyists calling on him with checkbook in hand)? I say, ask them. Let taxpayers tell the government exactly where their taxes will be spent. It’s a simple idea: vote with your tax dollars. When filing taxes each year on April 15, include one more form: a ballot. Direct democracy. Cut out the middleman – the politician in this case – and go directly to the taxpayer. It is estimated that 20 cents of each 2010 tax dollar was spent on Defense, while 3 cents was spent on Education and 1/10 of a cent on Arts and Culture. Some bleeding hearts would say that’s insane. So let the tree hugger from San Francisco fill out her tax ballot and indicate that all $6,993 of her taxes will go to support Environmental Protection. And let the truck driver from Wyoming stipulate on his tax ballot that 65% of his $5,436 taxes will go to Homeland Security (to complete the anti-terrorist fence along the Mexican border), 35% to Veterans Affairs, and not a freakin penny to Foreign Aid. What could be more American than asking the good citizens of this country what THEY want? Let the mob set the priorities. Money talks, and this inspired idea is something that every rational person can understand. If “Washington is broken” this clearly is the way to fix it; if the people lead the leaders will follow.