I haven't read through all of Third Way's deficit-reduction ideas yet, but I love the proposal (pdf) for a taxpayer receipt:
Corn syrup, milk chocolate, sugar, cocoa butter, coconut, almond, soy lecithin … any consumer can read these ingredients and their nutritional value on every package of a 75-cent Almond Joy. What is provided to a taxpayer with a $5,400 tax bill? Nothing. For many Americans, the amount they pay in taxes is larger than any purchase they make during the year, but studies show they know almost nothing about where that money goes to.
This contributes to ridiculous beliefs, like the view that 20% of government spending goes to foreign aid, for example. An electorate unschooled in basic budget facts is a major obstacle to controlling the nation’s deficit, not to mention addressing a host of economic and social problems. We suggest that everyone who files a tax return receive a “taxpayer receipt.” This receipt would tell them to the penny what their taxes paid for based on the amount they paid in federal income taxes and FICA.
And here's an example of what it would look like:
This strikes me as a wonderful way to inform the public. For example, I don't think so many people would make noise over Amtrak if they knew it's so cheap compared to, say, the current wars.
Manic Progressive: A liberal who violently swings from anger at politicos to despondency over them.
Out Of Context theatre: Ron Paul has repeatedly said he's not a racist. - Destructinator XIII on why Ron Paul isn't racist.
Ugh, yes and no. Can you imagine some social regressive's reactions upon learning that they are spending more, even if it's not much more, on K-12 for underprivileged kids than on something like the FBI, which has a more visceral emotional appeal when they evaluate what's essential to the wellbeing of the country?
That said, this may solve more problems than it starts, but if it does, debates over taxation will completely shift in character and focus. That, and people who are secretly against it will make some stupid ruckus about how people can "look it up", knowing full well that's there's an entire media apparatus out there devoted to creating those misconceptions in the first place to their advantage.
The way you break out the costs is also important. Note the broke out the salaries of Congress and the the cost of military personel, but it appears the cost of federal employees were lumped into their whatever departments are listed.
I can see this being manipulated any number of ways by any number of parties.
It's subject to manipulation, but from my own experience the average person seems to have no idea how the federal budget is structured. If you give responsibility for formulating the structure of the receipt over to the General Accounting Office it should minimize the ability of Congress or the Executive branch to monkey around with the numbers for political gain. In such a case I think the level of voter education such a receipt would provide would more than outweigh any potential for abuse or difficulty in getting the program off the ground.
There is the moral of all human tales;
Tis but the same rehearsal of the past,
First Freedom, and then Glory — when that fails,
Wealth, vice, corruption, — barbarism at last.
-Lord Byron, from 'Childe Harold's Pilgrimage'
Could someone tell me where JSF (Joint Strike Fighter), LCS (Littoral Combat Ship), Missile Defense, and FCS (Future Combat System) fall on that chart, because I can't.
"I believe in the future. It is wonderful because it stands on what has been achieved." - Sergei Korolev
I would actually like it if it was more item by item and included combinations at the end. Like specify how much is spent on benefits for public employees, how much is pension, how much is health care. People only acknowledge what's spent on Medicare and Medicaid as part of health care spending when there's more. If the number was a big lump sum, I feel like arguing for a single payer would be easier.
TimothyC wrote:Could someone tell me where JSF (Joint Strike Fighter), LCS (Littoral Combat Ship), Missile Defense, and FCS (Future Combat System) fall on that chart, because I can't.
Two of those don't exist. The JSF is the program that was used to develope the F-35 series, and FCS has been CANXED.
"The rifle itself has no moral stature, since it has no will of its own. Naturally, it may be used by evil men for evil purposes, but there are more good men than evil, and while the latter cannot be persuaded to the path of righteousness by propaganda, they can certainly be corrected by good men with rifles."
TimothyC wrote:Could someone tell me where JSF (Joint Strike Fighter), LCS (Littoral Combat Ship), Missile Defense, and FCS (Future Combat System) fall on that chart, because I can't.
Two of those don't exist. The JSF is the program that was used to develope the F-35 series, and FCS has been CANXED.
Ok, My mistake then. Could someone still tell me where military procurement falls on this chart?
"I believe in the future. It is wonderful because it stands on what has been achieved." - Sergei Korolev
JointStrikeFighter wrote:FCS has been cancelled too
I believe that's what I said.
"The rifle itself has no moral stature, since it has no will of its own. Naturally, it may be used by evil men for evil purposes, but there are more good men than evil, and while the latter cannot be persuaded to the path of righteousness by propaganda, they can certainly be corrected by good men with rifles."
Tim, the people who put this together are manipulating it before it's become law. In small print and brackets at the end of the details of this "receipt" is (selected items).
The threshold for inclusion in Wikipedia is verifiability, not truth. -- Wikipedia's No Original Research policy page.
