Let's start with the premise that as a society, certain minimal benefits need to be provided by the government: roads, emergency services, law enforcement, defense. Those ensure that society keeps functioning. The rest are social and regulatory programs: public education, welfare, environmental protection, etc.
What if we changed the model. Everybody pays a flat property tax if they own property, and everybody pays a flat income tax. Those funds pay for the necessary minimum essential services listed above, but not for social programs. Anything left over goes into a pool, which every citizen gets to draw from in equal shares. You decide how to use the draw money.
No more free public education, but you can use your draw to pay for costs of school. No more welfare, but you can use your draw. Or you can pocket it. Whatever you want.
This model provides the same benefits as the current tax system, but people don't have to pay for any services they don't want.
Could the system work?
2006-08-19
05:29:29
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29 answers
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asked by
coragryph
7
in
Government