army1987 comments on Open Thread, May 19 - 25, 2014 - Less Wrong Discussion
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What would happen if citizens had direct control over where their tax dollars went? Imagine a system like this: the United States government raises the average person's tax by 3% (while preserving the current progressive tax rates). This will be a "vote-with-your-wallet" tax, where the citizen can choose where the money should go. For example, he may choose to allocate his tax funds towards the education budget, whereas someone else may choose to put the money towards healthcare instead. Such a system would have the benefit of being at democratic in deciding the nation's priorities, while bypassing political gridlock. What would be the consequences of this system?
In Italy there's something similar: you can choose whether 0.8% of your income taxes goes to the government or to an organized religion of your choice (if you don't choose, it's shared in proportion to the number of people who choose each church), and 0.5% goes to a non-profit or research organization of your choice.