Take Back Your Taxes

[BridgeTheGap]

Where, exactly, do tax dollars go? Equal parts misinformation and lack of accountability have confused the question for decades, and as a result, Americans’ confidence in their government has plummeted. If more detailed guidance and answers were readily available, suggests Ethan Porter, managing editor of Democracy (Spring 2010), it would go a long way toward rebuilding America’s trust in its leaders. There would also be a lot less grumbling every April.

Porter’s proposal is simply a matter of paperwork. The IRS would issue individual taxpayers a receipt detailing where their money wound up, accompanied by a clear, intelligible graph to reinforce the explanation. He also suggests that receipts could arrive alongside report cards from the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office, and interested citizens could visit a one-stop website for information about individual agencies’ responsibilities and performance evaluations.

“Done right, a receipt could have powerful and lasting consequences,” Porter argues. “It would make clear the enormous amount of goods and services provided by the government. It would dispel myths: America is not a nation of welfare queens, dependent on the public teat. The amount spent on safety net programs will, to some people, seem stunningly low.” Nearly half of the 2008 budget, for example, went to national security and Social Security; about 11 percent was spent on safety net programs such as food stamps, and just 1 percent went to foreign aid.

It may seem an overly optimistic proposition in these Tea Partying times, but Porter believes Americans might someday be willing to shift federal spending priorities using their own checkbooks. Hardcore environmentalists could send extra cash to the Environmental Protection Agency; space enthusiasts would give NASA a boost. “Think of it as a form of citizens’ earmarks,” Porter writes, “designed to make use of modern technology and wrest a bit of power for the people themselves.”

http://www.utne.com/Politics/Take-Back-Your-Taxes-Government-Accountability.aspx?utm_content=08.03.10+Politics&utm_campaign=Emerging+Ideas-Every+Day&utm_source=iPost&utm_medium=email

[ejpoeta]

1. i think on that receipt should also be what each person's senator/rep

voted for or pushed for. what bills they held up. the things that they can now do in anonymity should be prominently displayed. like say if a senator put a hold on a bill that would provide funds for a project or something. we should all have access to that.

[cornermouse]

2. Social Security IS a safety net.

Unless you want to start supporting your parents in their old age (housing, food, utilities, nursing), you shouldn't have a problem with that.

[bluedave]

5. net

It certainly is a net for me--I'd be living under a bridge without it.

[DailyGrind51]

3. People should be allowed to "restrict" their tax dollars like they can their philanthropic donations

This would allocate Federal dollars according to the priorities of those paying for them.

[ixion]

4. I want a law that says I can option to NOT have my tax dollars spent on anything military

or anything violence related, including, but not limited to, the so-called 'wars' on 'drugs' and 'terror'.

[BridgeTheGap]

6. Here's my idea: as part of our tax form, a listing of 10 are more areas where the Federal Govt

spends our tax dollars (i.e. defense, education, environment, etc). The form would allow us to direct to one or more areas (via a percentage)where we want our tax dollars spent. I would feel much better knowing that my tax dollars were spent on the areas I value.

[canoeist52]

7. This will never happen. Congress would rather we didn't know.

[groovedaddy]

8. So much ignorance around this issue of taxation and part of the problem is LACK of transparency.

Evidently, they don't want us to know. That doesn't mean we should stop trying to find out.

[kctim]

9. Instead of a receipt

send every taxpayer a bill.