Quote:
Originally Posted by DMcCunney
Part of the problem is there is no direct connection between revenue and expense. When a legislator proposes a bill that will require the government to spend money, it doesn't specify where the money will come from. I've wondered, on occasion, about a law that would require legislators to say how the government would get what they wanted to spend.
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Under my government, here's how that would work: In April, you'd fill out your tax return, but it would not include a computation of the tax, just a report of income, deductions, etc. that would be used to calculate your taxable income. The IRS would report to Congress the total amount of taxable income available. Congress would spend as it sees fit, then determine the fraction of available taxable income that represents. Every taxpayer would then be sent a bill for that fraction of their taxable income.
So if there were $20 trillion in taxable income and Congress decides to spend $4 trillion, that's 20%. If your taxable income is $20,000, you'd get a bill for $4,000. We accept cash, checks and credit cards, thank you.
Under that system, anyone who demanded that the government spend money on anything would intrinsically be demanding to hit
everyone with a tax increase. And anyone who wanted a tax cut would have to do it by identifying the spending to be cut. And the budget would always balance.