This is an idea that just occurred to me today. As such, it's not all that well thought out. But I find it attractive and thought all you smart folk could help me see the pros and cons.
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One of the big issues that divides libertarians from everybody else is that libertarians see most taxation as a form of force and that use of force against its citizens is immoral. In principle, I agree. In practice, I can't think of any reasonable way to make that actually work (even in the ideal hugely reduced libertarian government).
Libertarians are often accused of being selfish because they don't think taxation should go to welfare/socialist programs. This is under the assumption that, if not taxed, libertarians wouldn't freely give of their money. This is bullshit - I have no doubt that libertarians in general are willing support social causes. They'd just like to be able to have say on how, when, where, ect.
It occurred to me last night, on a practical level, what bothers me most is not that I have no real choice but to pay taxes but that I have no real choice on where those taxes go. The answer of "you elect officials that you hope will broadly use your money in ways you like", frankly, sucks. Too much corruption, too much power, too many lobbyists, too much waste, and not nearly enough voice from The People. If you don't agree, think, ye many American war opposers, how much of your tax dollars have been spent in a war you may find morally reprehensible. I don't know how much I've spent on that war, but I'm betting it's WAY more than I'd like it to be (ie. $0).
So, while I'll conceed on a practical level that the government has to take my money, I disagree on how little say I have on what my money does. In comes my proposal - instead of just voting for people and hoping they use my money well, I get to tell the government how it's going to use my money. Here's my idea.
On your yearly tax payments (or whatever), the government's functions are categorized into a small group - I'm thinking maybe 15-20 - of broad categories.
- Welfare
- Education
- Defense
- Crime Enforcement
- Healthcare
- ect ect
A certain amount of your taxes, let's say, 80% (certainly a majority) gets allocated to those broad categories in whatever manner I want. So if I pay $5,000 in taxes per year, I can put $4,000 to wherever I wish. I can put all of it to education, or split it evenly amongst everything, or make sure that everything gets something but war doesn't get a dime. It would be illegal to use my money for programs outside of the categories I designated. The other $1,000 the government takes to use as it needs or wants.
It sounds bloody marvelous to me, in part, because contrary to popular perception of libertians, ideally we be would giving (emphasis on giving!) more of our money to help each other and this ensures more money goes where I think it will help humanity most (and harms humanity least). I'm sure there are some practical problems (I hate these practical problems ruin my idealism will ya! ) that I can't see. What do you think?