Concert for Congress
Last week, while driving, I read this bumper sticker, “It will be a great day when our schools get all the money they need and the Air Force has to hold a bake sale to buy a bomber.” It got me thinking, what if it wasn’t just the Air Force that had to operate like that? I propose the United States government eliminate all taxes, and rely completely on donations and voluntary spending.
There are income taxes, sales taxes, corporate taxes, even taxes on taxes, and if these were all eliminated, think of all the extra money people and companies could spend. Individuals and corporations already donate plenty of money to good causes, so why not let them allocate their funds to whatever government program they want. If Bill Gates wants to use all his money previously taken by taxes to directly fund NASA, that should be his prerogative. If ExxonMobil donates all its former tax dollars to Congress—hold on! I don’t think we need to change anything to make that work. Even Regular Joe, who loses $10,000 a year to the government, may be so grateful the government is giving him freedom to donate, he may give even more!
The government is going to have so much more funding for its programs when people get to say that they give to charity and contribute to society. Who doesn’t love bragging about that? A possible concern is that the poor may either not have the money to donate or lose programs previously mandatorily funded. This concern is foolish. There have to be a few wealthy citizens willing to give a piece of their former tax dollars to welfare rather than building new bridges across their private lake, right? Somewhere?
Recently, a few restaurants have sprung up throughout the U.S. that operate on the pay-what-you-want model and have fared fantastically. Imagine being able to pay public schools based on how good your child’s grades are or doctors based on how good you feel; the incentive to improve teaching and medical practices would be huge! Like the bake sale on the bumper sticker, the government can sell novelty items and sweets to raise money when they need to embark on an expensive project. Picture a small, colorful stand outside city hall or the state capitol selling “I love USA” T-shirts and red, white, and blue brownies to fund the latest road repair.
Another facet of the government in need for thorough reform is the IRS. Since no one likes the IRS, they would have a radical rebranding as a charity organization that puts together bake sale events and other fun shows that all directly fund government spending. The IRS “Support Our Cops” carnival could be one weekend, staging rides and booths to fund the police department, and the next weekend could be the “Concert for Congress” that funds Congress’s budget. I think the lineup would need to be pretty strong for that one to succeed, though.
The problem with raising revenue with taxes is a lack of immediate or personal payoff. It just seems like money is being bit out of paychecks and purchases for no good reason. Raising money through events and donated items gives an immediate incentive to contribute to the government. There should be no problem of deficit, debt, or cut programs so long as there are people who care enough about a program to fund it. The same principle is used in real business - if there is demand for something, it will be bought. If not, it shouldn’t exist anyway.
The transformation to a voluntary payment model will maximize the efficiency of dollars spent so only worthy programs receive funding. Bureaucracy and unpopular agencies will finally be eliminated when the American Citizen can use his or her dollars to directly impact what they find valuable. Whoever thought it was a good idea for Congress to vote on bills was completely delusional, and didn’t understand that skipping the middle-man of a vote creates a much more democratic system. The new, far more equal, system will be based entirely on dollar bills instead of ballot bills. And if the president is the bum that some critics think he is, the president will lose his income and end up exactly how those critics see him.
This revenue model is not common today. However once used on such a huge scale all sorts of businesses will convert to a pay-what-you-want model. There will finally be meaning to the idea of dollar voting - except everyone will do it, rich or poor…well, actually, mostly the rich.
Imagine driving to work and coming across a pothole. Instead of waiting for the poorly-funded local government to fix the problem after a new tax bill is passed, all one has to do is go to a government bake sale, buy a couple dozen cookies, and there will be well-paved road in no time.