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Showing posts with label pragmatarianism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pragmatarianism. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Choose Where Your Taxes Go

[update] Created a community on reddit for tax choice. [/update]

The tax choice revolution was postponed because of...semantics?  How many different ways are there of saying the same thing?  A while back, when I first searched google for the idea of allowing people to choose where their taxes go...I didn't find anything.  My search terms, which I've long since forgotten, made sense to me at the time.  Fairly recently I learned a few other ways of saying the same thing...which allowed me to discover that a lot more people have discussed this concept than I had initially imagined.

In essence...it's a lot harder to find relevant search results when you search using a description compared to when you search using a label (see Semantic Web).  Because of this difficulty...there are a lot of dots...with nothing connecting them together (see Network Science).

My mission is to go around and connect the dots!  This can be accomplished by...
  1. Tagging each dot with a google friendly label "pragmatarianism"
  2. Linking each dot back to this page
  3. Linking each dot to the Wikipedia entry on Tax Choice
In this entry I've compiled all the pages that I've found that contain a reasonable amount of discussion on the topic of tax choice.  The list does not include what I myself have personally written on the topic.  If you know of any other reasonably relevant pages that have not been included in this list...please share them in a comment and I will add them to the list when I get a chance.  

Given that economics is the study of scarcity...and your time is scarce...I ranked the pages according to their relevance and quantity of quality content.  Just search (Ctl + F) this page for "Stars:5" in order to find the pages that will give you the most bang for your buck.   

While on the topic of limited time...just in case anybody is wondering...I wrote a program to output this list from an MS Access database that I created.  If you'd like a copy of this database then feel free to private message me your e-mail address on one of the political forums that I frequent.

Here's the format for the entries...

Title - The title of the reference.  This is how the list is sorted
Link - The URL of the reference
Rating - Value is in the eye of the beholder
Tagged - Whether or not I've had the opportunity to connect the dot.  N/A if it's no longer possible.
Description/Author/Date - Snippets of how the tax choice concept was described

***************************

A Liberal Reform Policy
http://www.scottahunt.com/2005_07_22_archive.html
Stars:3
Tagged:No
1: earmark our taxes to the programs we want - SCOTT A HUNT - 22 Jul 2005
2: designate my tax money to - SCOTT A HUNT - 22 Jul 2005
3: earmark their taxes - SCOTT A HUNT - 22 Jul 2005

A Market Based Tax System
http://www.ted.com/conversations/12638/a_market_based_tax_system.html
Stars:4
Tagged:N/A
1: a market based tax system that allows taxpayers to choose where their money will be spent - Joseph Bailey - 17 July 2012
2: allow the taxpayer to select funds (like a stock), or a pool of funds (like a mutual fund) for where their tax dollars will be spent - Joseph Bailey - 17 July 2012

A post in which I reveal, again, that I’m an avid elitist
http://www.kepkanation.com/2011/04/08/a-post-in-which-i-reveal-again-that-im-an-avid-elitist/
Stars:2
Tagged:No
1: decide exactly where their tax dollars go. - Jenn Kepka - 8 Apr 2011
2: make decisions about where my tax dollars should and shouldn’t go - Jenn Kepka - 8 Apr 2011

A special ‘Happy Tax Day’ message from your Uncle Sam!
http://4and20blackbirds.wordpress.com/2011/04/18/a-special-happy-tax-day-message-from-your-uncle-sam/
Stars:1
Tagged:No
1: decide exactly where our tax dollars went - The Polish Wolf - 20 Apr 2011

About This Tax Credit Project
http://www.newvisioncounseling.com/fundraising/yop/yopinformation.asp
Stars:2
Tagged:No
1: direct where your tax dollars are spent - New Vision
2: direct those tax dollars, through tax credits, to - New Vision

ALEF Fund
http://www.epsteinatlanta.org/ALEF_Fund
Stars:1
Tagged:No
1: Redirect Your Taxes - Epstein School
2: direct where your tax dollars are spent - Epstein School
3: earmark your tax dollars - Epstein School

All Taxes Optional - Congress Passes New Law!
http://forums.d2jsp.org/topic.php?t=52863446&f=119&o=50
Stars:2
Tagged:No
1: choose where our tax dollars go that would be nice - inkanddagger - 15 Mar 2006

Alternative Ideas: Taxpayer Choice For Funding Areas Of Government
http://mountainsteps.blogspot.com/2010/01/alternative-ideas-taxpayer-choice-for.html
Stars:4
Tagged:Yes
1: allocate where we want our share of tax dollars to go - Mountain Steps - 6 Jan 2010
2: allocate their taxes to - Mountain Steps - 6 Jan 2010

American Governance: Allowing Taxpayers to Decide How Their Own Tax Payments Should Be Spent
http://www.bestthinking.com/articles/politics_government/taxation/american-governance-allowing-taxpayers-to-decide-how-their-own-tax-payments-should-be-spent
Stars:4
Tagged:Yes
1: participate directly to the extent of their tax payments - J. Marvin Herndon
2: permit individual taxpayers to designate specifically how their own taxes should be spent and not spent - J. Marvin Herndon
3: make it possible for individuals to perform detailed allocations of their own taxes - J. Marvin Herndon

As a tax payer, shouldn't I decide where my taxes are spent; instead of the controlling party to deciding?
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070605203414AAS6FAn
Stars:1
Tagged:No
1: decide which avenues to invest my tax dollars - Mike Jones - 6 June 2007
2: allocate a percentage of your taxes based on what's most important to you - Dona A - 6 June 2007

Brandon's Response
http://www.degreediscussion.com/forums/viewtopic.php?=&p=21046
Stars:1
Tagged:No
1: decide where my tax dollars go - Brandon - 9 Feb 2007
2: choose not to have your tax dollars fund - dntw8up - 11 Feb 2007

Busing of Private Schools Students
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/howardpubliced/message/6329
Stars:1
Tagged:No
1: decide where my tax dollars will be spent - Wanda Hurt - 17 Nov 2000

Can I earmark my tax dollars to pay for the salary of a soldier who will donate to Ron Paul?
http://www.facebook.com/KokeshforCongress/posts/10150479796731260
Stars:2
Tagged:No
1: earmark my tax dollars - Adam Kokesh - 11 Jan 2012
2: decide where those dollars go. - Carolyn Joshua - 11 Jan 2012

can we choose where our tax dollars go
http://forums.gametrailers.com/thread/can-we-choose-where-our-tax-do/900258
Stars:2
Tagged:No
1: choose where our tax dollars go - Cowboy-Funk - 22 Aug 2009

Choose Where Our Tax Dollars Go
http://twitter.com/#!/psailoveu/statuses/30096641419649024
Stars:1
Tagged:No
1: choose where our tax dollars go - Paula - 25 Jan 2011

Choose where taxes are spent?
http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=122540691&page=1
Stars:2
Tagged:No
1: choose where your taxes are spent - farquezy - 21 Feb 2010
2: choose how your taxes are spent - drjjg - 21 Feb 2010

Choose where your tax money goes
http://www.uspoliticsonline.com/economic-issues/59221-choose-where-your-tax-money-goes.html
Stars:3
Tagged:Yes
1: choice where my taxes go - Truthbetold - 20 Feb 2010
2: earmark your taxes - Machjo - 20 Feb 2010
3: decide where your taxes go - timj219 - 22 Feb 2010

Choose where your taxes go
http://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?t=159951&f=20&view=unread
Stars:3
Tagged:Yes
1: some choice in where a portion of your taxes are spent - Archnar - 14 Jan 2012
2: choose for my tax money to go - Arkotania - 14 Jan 2012
3: choosing where tax goes - Arkotania - 14 Jan 2012
4: Allowing people where THEIR taxes went specifically - Aesthetica - 14 Jan 2012
5: having a direct hand in financing government programs - Sane Outcasts - 14 Jan 2012

Choosing Where Taxes Go
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2011/09/03/guest-post-choosing-where-taxes-go/
Stars:4
Tagged:Yes
1: choose where my taxes go - Brandy Mae - 3 Sept 2011
2: direct their taxes - victoriajean

Choosing where your taxes go
http://www.sherdog.net/forums/f54/choosing-where-your-taxes-go-480094/
Stars:3
Tagged:No
1: choose how we want our money distributed - Reaper Man - 20 Dec 2006

Choosing where your taxes go?
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20120126000000AA4G78q
Stars:1
Tagged:No
1: Choosing where your taxes go? - Jon - 26 Jan 2012

Choosing where your taxes go?
http://www.creditcompliance.com/taxes/choosing-where-your-taxes-t64264.html
Stars:2
Tagged:No
1: I believe that out of the total taxes taken from any person in one years time the Govt should take 50% and spend it in anyway they choose. the other 50% should get to be allocated by the individual that it's taken from. - celia8350 - 30 June 2011

Coloradans can earmark tax dollars for agriculture
http://www.craigdailypress.com/news/2002/jan/14/coloradans_can_earmark/
Stars:2
Tagged:No
1: earmark their tax dollars to help support Colorado agriculture. - Josh Nichols - 14 Jan 2002
2: direct their taxes into something they care about. - Jim Rubingh - 14 Jan 2002

Conservatives, whats a fair tax for you? (brainwash, elect, vote)
http://www.city-data.com/forum/politics-other-controversies/1242496-conservatives-whats-fair-tax-you-11.html
Stars:1
Tagged:No
1: choose WHERE my tax dollars go - h0tmess - 3 April 2011

Controlling where my taxes go?
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=1096863
Stars:2
Tagged:No
1: control where my tax payer money goes? - techjr - 7 Nov 2011

Decide Exactly Where Our Tax Dollars Go
http://wincoast.com/forum/showthread.php?43285-Read-My-Lips-More-STUPID-Taxes
Stars:1
Tagged:No
1: decide exactly where our tax dollars go - MerlboroMan - 19 Oct 2006

Decide where your taxes go!
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=33892
Stars:3
Tagged:No
1: specify on their tax forms where their money went? - friedo - 8 Aug 2000

Democratic budgeting - targeted taxation
http://www.globalideasbank.org/site/bank/idea.php?ideaId=3566
Stars:2
Tagged:No
1: decide exactly where their tax dollars go - Duncan Wright

Direct Democracy Via the Internet
http://occupywallst.org/forum/direct-democracy-via-the-internet/
Stars:5
Tagged:Yes
1: What if, instead of electing someone to making this decision for me and us, I and we are allowed to decide where our taxes go? - Nulambda - 20 Oct 2011
2: deciding where my tax dollars go - Nulambda - 20 Oct 2011

Do Earmarks Increase Giving to Government?
http://cbees.utdallas.edu/papers/gtg2.pdf
Stars:5
Tagged:N/A
1: taxpayers appear willing to pay voluntary taxes if they can choose to earmark their tax payments - Brown et al - 13 Nov 2011
2: make choices over how to spend their tax payments - Brown et al - 13 Nov 2011
3: tax proceeds are directed to programs they approve of - Brown et al - 13 Nov 2011
4: taxpayers to voluntarily make donations to specific government organizations - Brown et al - 13 Nov 2011

Do voters have a right to decide where their tax money goes?
http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=5597
Stars:5
Tagged:No
1: decide where their tax money goes - Tony - 9 May 2003
2: earmark their tax money - corplinx - 9 May 2003
3: pay the various government entities only for programs and activities he favors - Lemastre - 11 May 2003
4: control where your taxes went - Tmy - 12 May 2003
5: tax direction system - Tmy - 12 May 2003
6: Besides, this discussion is not about how to run a society without taxes anyway, it's about whether to allow those paying them to allocate where the money goes. - WMT1 - 12 May 2003
7: decide where one's tax money goes - WMT1 - 12 May 2003
8: determine where one's tax money goes - WMT1 - 13 May 2003

Do You Believe We Should Choose Where Our Tax Money Goes?
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080912222942AAq0zSc
Stars:1
Tagged:No
1: Choose Where Our Tax Money Goes? - Dot - 12 Sept 2008

Do you believe you should be able to decide where your tax money goes?
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090813061029AA6qlU7
Stars:1
Tagged:No
1: allocate your tax dollars? - Cesaria Barbarossa - 40K - 13 Aug 2009
2: choose what programs your tax dollars went to - Cesaria Barbarossa - 40K - 13 Aug 2009
3: allocate their tax dollars - rrm38 - 13 Aug 2009
4: decide where our tax money goes - Shawn - 13 Aug 2009

Do you think Tax payers should get the choice of where the government spends your tax?
http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090325065048AAcY0wh
Stars:1
Tagged:No
1: choice of where the government spends your tax? - shane_emsworth - 25 Mar 2009
2: Our money, our choice - shane_emsworth - 25 Mar 2009
3: things I do not want my tax money to be spent on - mike_h - 25 Mar 2009
4: choose where their tax dollars go - Big B - 25 Mar 2009

Do you think we should choose where our tax money goes?
http://www.cafemom.com/answers/909922/Do_you_think_we_should_choose_where_our_tax_money_goes
Stars:2
Tagged:No
1: pick, on out tax forms, where our tax money should go - leksismommy - 9 July 2011
2: choosing where our tax money goes - beauti_ful - 14 July 2011

Due to Popular Demand, IRS Introduces Taxpayer Earmarks
http://madminsatires.blogspot.com/2009/04/due-to-popular-demand-irs-introduces.html
Stars:3
Tagged:Yes
1: tax earmarks allows the individual taxpayers to designate the specific government programs to which they wish their taxes to be directed - MAD MINERVA - 14 Apr 2009

Forced Giving is a Good Thing!
http://wicwoes.com/2011/forced-giving-good-thing
Stars:1
Tagged:No
1: decide exactly where their tax dollars went - cassandra - 13 May 2011

Giving to Government: Voluntary Taxation in the Lab
http://cbees.utdallas.edu/papers/GTG-Oct212010.pdf
Stars:4
Tagged:N/A
1: earmark their tax payments for specific causes - Brown et all

Head of free clinic group slams Ron Paul
http://www.rawstory.com/rawreplay/2011/09/head-of-free-clinic-group-slams-ron-paul/
Stars:1
Tagged:No
1: decide where their tax money is spent? - iehuvihs - Oct 2011

Here's a Thought
http://catsittingstill.livejournal.com/71149.html
Stars:4
Tagged:Yes
1: specify on your tax forms what you wanted the money spent on - Cat Sitting Still - 15 Apr 2008
2: allocate their tax money - mtgat - 15 Apr 2008
3: allot their tax dollars - pocketnaomi - 15 Apr 2008
4: direct allocation system - mrgoodwraith - 16 Apr 2008

How can we re-frame tax policy to make people happier about paying taxes and/or spending pro-socially?
http://www.ted.com/conversations/11033/how_can_we_re_frame_tax_policy.html
Stars:4
Tagged:N/A
1: entities of choosing by the taxee - griffin tucker - 14 May 2012
2: giving individuals some control over their taxes - Jack Derbyshire - 9 May 2012
3: give them full control over where that money goes - Jack Derbyshire - 9 May 2012
4: Let me Spend My Tax Money! - Douglas De Carvalho - 7 May 2012
5: pin down a percentage of my taxes directly to that issue - Douglas De Carvalho - 7 May 2012
6: my taxes being spent THE WAY I WANT THEM spent - Douglas De Carvalho - 7 May 2012
7: let them funnel all their taxes towards that - Douglas De Carvalho - 7 May 2012
8: But I don't see why 10% of your "taxes", for example, couldn't be pro-social/discretionary instead of it going into the general coffer to pay for things you disagree with. - Bill Harrison - 26 Apr 2012
9: you're required to pay it, but you choose where it goes - Bill Harrison - 26 Apr 2012
10: I've argued in the past that money is more like a vote than voting is, because it is a direct claim check on the allocation of social resources. - Bill Harrison - 26 Apr 2012
11: give people a little bit more control over where social resources are allocated - Bill Harrison - 26 Apr 2012
12: a degree of choice about what your tax is spent on - Anne Dagen - 26 Apr 2012
13: Is it socially optimal for individuals' specific choices for their tax dollars to drive social spending? - Fritzie Reisner - 25 Apr 2012
14: individuals' being able to target a portion of their taxes for good - Fritzie Reisner - 26 Apr 2012
15: you don't get to choose where your tax money goes - Bill Harrison - 24 Apr 2012

How Responsible Are You for Where Your Taxes Go?
http://ordinary-gentlemen.com/blog/2011/04/08/how-responsible-are-you-for-where-your-taxes-go/
Stars:4
Tagged:N/A
1: set aside what’s currently legal or illegal to fund with government money. Then we let you fund what you want with your money. Want all your tax dollars to go to abortion? Do it. Want all your tax dollars to go to secret military tribunals? Do it! (I’m told they’re legal, anyway…) - Jason Kuznicki - 8 April 2011
2: I saw the idea posited here once, by Mike Farmer I think, of funding government a la carte. You’d get a menu of potential government services and you’d be able to assign what percentage of your taxes went to what. - 62across - 8 April 2011
3: line item taxation - Rufus F - 8 April 2011
4: Tom sez, upthread: “As for individuals earmarking their tax dollars, this does not seem remotely practical or desirable.” - Pat Cahalan - 8 April 2011
5: a taxpaying a la carte world? - Creon Critic - 8 April 2011
6: line item taxation system would work. - Kyle Cupp - 8 April 2011
7: ala carte taxation thing - b-psycho - 8 April 2011
8: deciding where their individual tax money goes - conradg - 8 April 2011
9: line-item funding won’t work - Richard Gadsden - 9 April 2011
10: earmark each dollar they send to the government, but to give people a choice as to how a certain percentage of their tax dollars are spent. - Brendan - 11 April 2011
11: earmark tax revenue – though it need not be dysfunctional – would essentially turn the government into a network of quasi-legitimate non-profits. This could be good, could be bad, I don’t know but it isn’t and wouldn’t be government in any real way. - Kyle - 11 April 2011

How would you like to choose where your tax money goes?
http://onyourownadventures.com/hunttalk/showthread.php?t=223955
Stars:3
Tagged:No
1: decide where their money goes. - DAVID PFEIFLE - 28 Feb 2005
2: designate what percentage of your taxes goes where. - DAVID PFEIFLE - 28 Feb 2005
3: designate what percentage of your taxes goes to what you value most - DAVID PFEIFLE - 28 Feb 2005

I should be able to choose where my tax dollars go
http://forum.grasscity.com/general/657762-i-should-able-choose-where-my-tax-dollars-go.html
Stars:3
Tagged:Yes
1: choose where my tax dollars go - Stoogemeister - 28 Aug 2010

I think taxpayers should be allowed to choose where their tax dollars go. Make it happen.
http://expertlabs.aaas.org/thinkup01/post/?t=152907622981435392&n=twitter
Stars:1
Tagged:No
1: choose where their tax dollars go - 30 Dec 2011

I want my taxes to go towards…
http://www.sherdog.net/forums/f54/i-want-my-taxes-go-towards-813110/
Stars:3
Tagged:No
1: choose where your taxes went within the government? - USS_Logic - 12 July 2008
2: Where would I like my tax dollars to go? - Montpelerin - 12 July 2008
3: choose where my tax dollars go. - Nietzsche13 - 12 July 2008

If I could choose where my tax money was spent, I'd be more willing to pay it.
http://jyte.com/cl/if-i-could-choose-where-my-tax-money-was-spent-id-be-more-willing-to-pay-it
Stars:2
Tagged:No
1: choose where my tax money was spent

If taxpayers got to choose where their taxes go to (Federal organization), would that be bad?
http://www.ign.com/boards/threads/if-taxpayers-got-to-choose-where-their-taxes-go-to-federal-organization-would-that-be-bad.250129529/
Stars:2
Tagged:No
1: choose where their taxes go - CoconutScissors - 4 Apr 2012

If you could choose where your tax dollars went, what would you cut?
http://www.minnpost.com/intelligencer/2011/04/if-you-could-choose-where-your-tax-dollars-went-what-would-you-cut
Stars:2
Tagged:No
1: choose how your tax dollars were spent? - Jeff Severns Guntzel - 19 April 2011

If You could choose where your taxes went
http://www.kongregate.com/forums/9-serious-discussion/topics/160387
Stars:3
Tagged:Yes
1: choose what parts of their tax dollars go - Flypurplehamster - 17 Apr 2011
2: choose where your taxes went - Flypurplehamster - 17 Apr 2011
3: pick and choose where your taxes went - vikaTae - 17 Apr 2011
4: allocate finances to departments - NeilSenna - 17 Apr 2011
5: allocating your entire tax take to - NeilSenna - 18 Apr 2011
6: choose where my taxes go - Trumpkard - 18 Apr 2011

If You Could Choose, Where Would All Your Tax Dollars Go?
http://www.hanseich.com/2011/11/22/if-you-could-choose-where-all-your-tax-dollars-would-go/
Stars:2
Tagged:No
1: If You Could Choose, Where Would All Your Tax Dollars Go? - hanseich - 22 Nov 2011

If you could earmark your tax dollars, what would your choice be?
http://www.topix.com/forum/us/politics/TRL7LH7FIHDMT9MVE
Stars:1
Tagged:No
1: earmark your tax dollars - anneutral - 6 Dec 2010

If you could say where your tax money went would you pay more?, You can and you should
http://www.ar15armory.com/forums/tax-money-pay-mo-t110457.html
Stars:2
Tagged:No
1: tell the .gov what to do with your taxes - MontanaLon - 14 Oct 2011
2: decide where our tax money went - Pepper - 14 Oct 2011

If you were able to choose where your tax dollars go, what would you spend them on?
http://www.coffeetank.com/conversations/view/49078/if-you-were-able-to-choose-where-your-tax-dollars-go-what-would-you-spend.html
Stars:2
Tagged:No
1: choose where your tax dollars go - Shannonon

In This Country, Taxes Are Voluntary
http://killiansaid.blogspot.com/2009/01/in-this-country-taxes-are-voluntary.html
Stars:2
Tagged:No
1: earmark my taxes - K - 27 Jan 2009

Income and Taxes
http://bimmergeek.dreamhosters.com/?p=3738
Stars:3
Tagged:Yes
1: What would happen if, just like in the open market, taxpayers were allowed to allocate their tax dollars to programs they believed in? - BimmerGeek - 17 Apr 2007

Is a direct democracy now possible in the USA?
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1208083
Stars:3
Tagged:No
1: pick where their tax dollars go - callmemike20
2: pick where their tax dollars go - callmemike20 - Aug 7, 2011

Is is at all possible to choose where our taxes go?
http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100408142848AAqn89C
Stars:1
Tagged:No
1: choose where our taxes go? - Haroon A - 8 Apr 2010
2: individually earmark money for programs - Kristin C - 8 Apr 2010

Is there an actual reason I can't decide where my taxes go?
http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/mmyga/is_there_an_actual_reason_i_cant_decide_where_my/
Stars:2
Tagged:No
1: Every year, quarter, even month, we would fill out a form saying which percentage of our income goes to which government programs. - rdarken - 23 Nov 2011

Let Decide Where Our Tax Money Go!
http://www.lucasforums.com/showthread.php?t=179763
Stars:3
Tagged:Yes
1: no say whatsoever on where exactly my tax money go - SilentScope001 - 22 Jun 2007
2: I'd like my tax money to go somewhere worth while - True_Avery - 22 Jun 2007
3: taxpayers having a token amount of taxes that they get to decide where it goes to - SilentScope001 - 25 Jun 2007

Let the Taxpayer Decide Where there $$$ is Spent
http://governmentreform.ideascale.com/a/dtd/Let-the-Taxpayer-Decide-Where-there-$$$-is-Spent/128326-13060
Stars:2
Tagged:No
1: determine - at least a percentage - where their tax money goes

Let's all make taxes optional
http://www.teenspot.com/boards/showthread.php?333636-Let-s-all-make-taxes-optional
Stars:2
Tagged:No
1: decide where their tax dollars go - Legally_Forbidden - 27 Aug 2006
2: not pay taxes for a specific project - jawnyone - 28 Aug 2006
3: choose where your taxes go - Praeco_Noctis - 28 Aug 2006

Let's make the tax system more lovable
http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/3151/1/MPRA_paper_3151.pdf
Stars:5
Tagged:N/A
1: choose which program they want to be financed by their money - Alida Paunic - May 2007
2: allocate their tax money - Alida Paunic - May 2007

Limited Government: Who’s Spending My Money?
http://www.theargus.ca/articles/opinion/op-ed/2011/04/limited-government-whos-spending-my-money
Stars:3
Tagged:No
1: allocate their tax dollars where they deem is appropriate - Joshua de Amicis - 10 Apr 2011

My Turn: A 21st century dream
http://www.salisburypost.com/Opinion/012512-edit-my-turn-steve-arey-qcd
Stars:2
Tagged:No
1: decide where their tax dollars will be spent - Steve Arey - 25 Jan 2012

New tax system (democratic)
http://www.olivejuicemusic.com/forum/2012/02/18/1846
Stars:2
Tagged:No
1: decide where they want their tax money to go to - Jeff Lewis - 18 Feb 2012
2: allocate my tax payments - Jeff Lewis - 18 Feb 2012
3: allocate their tax money - Bee K - 22 Feb 2012

No Tax Increase Without Recompense
http://blog.supplysideliberal.com/post/30196025443/no-tax-increase-without-recompense
Stars:5
Tagged:Yes
1: offer a 100% tax credit for public contributions up to the entire amount of the tax surcharge - Miles Kimball - 25 Aug 2012
2: How about 100% tax credits for donating directly to a Federal Gov’t Program. - Tom Grey
3: choosing which government program to support - Miles Kimball - 25 Aug 2012
4: devote 10% of income above $75,000 per person to public contributions - Miles Kimball - 25 Aug 2012

No Truer Words, Elizabeth Warren
http://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/kn5ef/no_truer_words_elizabeth_warren/
Stars:2
Tagged:No
1: designate where your money went as part of the tax filing process? - sage_joch - 21 Sept 2011
2: designate where their money goes - chriswu - 21 Sept 2011
3: decide where your taxes go - chriswu - 21 Sept 2011

Nude Buttocks May Cost ABC $1.4 Million
http://social.entertainment.msn.com/tv/boards/thread.aspx?board=00000065-037f-0000-0000-000000000000&thread=00000065-0000-0000-6e42-080000000000&_p=00000065-0000-0000-0000-00004996db00
Stars:1
Tagged:No
1: decide exactly where our tax dollars go - Logic and Reason - 26 Jan 2008

OK health, human services levy to help all of county's residents: Ken Slenkovich
http://www.cleveland.com/opinion/index.ssf/2012/03/ok_health_human_services_levy.html
Stars:1
Tagged:No
1: choose where my tax dollars go. I have no problem giving up the money, just have a problem with where it goes. - ceh9876 - 06 mar 2012

PATRIOTISM AND TAXATION: THE TAX COMPLIANCE IMPLICATIONS OF THE TEA PARTY MOVEMENT
http://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2772&context=llr
Stars:4
Tagged:N/A
1: Earmark Their Tax Payments - Richard Lavoie
2: earmark how their particular tax dollars are used - Richard Lavoie
3: direct their tax payments only to those government functions they deem appropriate. - Richard Lavoie
4: direct their taxes to those government benefits they value most
5: allocation of tax dollars by a taxpayer

Pentagon Says: Cut Our Spending, Please
http://sweetness-light.com/archive/pentagon-says-cut-our-spending-please
Stars:2
Tagged:No
1: decide where my tax dollars go - Milissa - 30 Sept 2010
2: decide where your tax dollars go - AcornsRNutz - 1 Oct 2010
3: decide where our tax dollars - reparing4theworst - 2 Oct 2010

Perry Tax Plan: Choose Your Tax Rate
http://investorjunkie.com/10570/perry-tax-plan-choose-tax-rate/
Stars:2
Tagged:No
1: decide how to allocate their tax dollars - Miranda Marquit - 27 Oct 2011
2: say in where tax money goes - Miranda Marquit - 27 Oct 2011

Personal Tax Earmarking
http://stingystudents.blogspot.com/2007/04/personal-tax-earmarking.html
Stars:2
Tagged:No

Personal Tax Earmarking
http://www.michaelkdawson.com/2007/04/13/personal-tax-earmarking/
Stars:1
Tagged:No

Personal Tax Earmarking (a.k.a. How to Love Big Brother)
http://www.seemegetrich.com/2007/04/personal-tax-earmarking.html
Stars:2
Tagged:No

Pick Your Taxes
http://www.kongregate.com/forums/9/topics/76912
Stars:3
Tagged:Yes
1: give some of my tax money to - pmr0078 - 12 Feb 2010
2: pick and choose what services they pay taxes for - AaronB - 12 Feb 2010
3: chose what government services they would pay for - vikaTae - 13 Feb 2010
4: CHOOSE what their actual tax payment will be used for - Vanguarde2010 - 18 Feb 2010

Power of the purse, WE the people should choose where OUR tax GOES
http://www.opendemocracy.net/power_of_the_purse_we_the_people_should_choose_where_our_tax_goes_0
Stars:3
Tagged:No
1: giving power of the purse to the people - anupsebastian51 - 16 Apr 2005
2: choose where their tax money goes - anupsebastian51 - 16 Apr 2005

Principled Progressive: Contraception and Punishment
http://daily.swarthmore.edu/2012/03/13/principled-progressive-contraception-and-punishment/
Stars:1
Tagged:No
1: Everyone’s tax dollars go towards things we find abhorrent.

Pro-Choice Everything
http://www.psychopolitik.com/2011/04/08/pro-choice-everything/
Stars:1
Tagged:No
1: Jason Kuznicki, in the context of referring to the recent budget bickering over Planned Parenthood, floats a hypothetical: what if you could pick exactly what your individual taxes went to fund?

Pros and cons of choosing where your tax dollars go?
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110507200027AA3b8uL
Stars:1
Tagged:No

Rep. Gary Miller
http://www.opencongress.org/people/comments/400277_Gary_Miller
Stars:1
Tagged:No
1: choose where our tax dollars are spent - Commenter - 10 Mar 2011

Rep. John Campbell’s “Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is” Bill
http://www.theliberaloc.com/2008/04/16/rep-john-campbells-put-your-money-where-your-mouth-is-bill/
Stars:2
Tagged:No
1: decide exactly where their tax dollars are spent - Dan Chmielewski - 16 Apr 2008

Ron Pauls 0% income tax would create 'the most jobs in the history of the world'
http://ingunowners.com/forums/general_political_discussion/191927-ron_pauls_0_income_tax_would_create_the_most_jobs_in_the_history_of_the_world-3.html
Stars:1
Tagged:No
1: choose where our tax dollars go would be ideal - lashicoN - 25 Jan 2012

Should I be able to choose where my taxes go?
http://www.yorkshire-divers.com/forums/surface-interval/208581-should-i-able-choose-where-my-taxes-go.html
Stars:3
Tagged:Yes
1: choose where my taxes go - turbanator - 12 Aug 2012
2: direct where a SMALL portion of your various taxed monies go - Paul_c - 12 Aug 2012
3: decide where our taxes went - NotDeadYet - 12 Aug 2012
4: say where their taxes go - Daniel Taylor - 13 Aug 2012
5: allowing people to choose where their taxes go - BJ - 14 Aug 2012
6: decide where our taxes are spent - Paulus - 14 Aug 2012
7: choosing where our taxes should go - SoggyFox - 14 Aug 2012

Should we be able to choose where our tax money goes?
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110301201153AAWFm7p
Stars:1
Tagged:No
1: choose where our tax money goes - Hello - 2 Mar 2011
2: optional tax allocation would produce - Veni, vici, Vetinari - 2 Mar 2011

Should we pick & choose where our personal tax dollars go?
http://www.sodahead.com/united-states/should-we-pick-choose-where-our-personal-tax-dollars-go/question-305997/
Stars:3
Tagged:Yes
1: say how their dollars are spent - Diane
2: Nothing produces results like competition, and competing for our tax dollars would definitely fit the bill. - Arokk

Smells like mean spirit
http://www.dailyhelmsman.com/news/smells-like-mean-spirit-1.2018388#.T5Kx27NWo3I
Stars:1
Tagged:No
1: earmark my tax payments to - Amy Barnette - 25 Feb 2011

Some don't want their taxes to pay for abortions?
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091113114510AA9sHfe
Stars:1
Tagged:No
1: pick where our taxes go for a reason - Sanji - 13 Nov 2009
2: decide exactly where our tax dollars end up percentage wise - Brian - 13 Nov 2009
3: Lets also have a box where you can elect whether or not your tax dollars go to INTERVENTION in other countries affairs - Don B - 13 Nov 2009
4: How about another check box for my tax $$ not paying for a war, I am against - Natalie - 13 Nov 2009
5: choose where and how my tax dollars are spent - smellyfoot - 13 Nov 2009

Speculative direct democracy: the cybernetic tax-allocation feedback loop
http://futurismic.com/2010/10/07/speculative-direct-democracy-the-cybernetic-tax-allocation-feedback-loop/
Stars:2
Tagged:No

Suppose you got to choose where your tax dollars went?
http://www.webanswers.com/taxes/suppose-you-got-to-choose-where-your-tax-dollars-went-86a581
Stars:1
Tagged:No
1: choose where your tax dollars went? - Animal_World

Tax Credit
http://www.geageckos.org/taxcredit.php
Stars:1
Tagged:No
1: direct where your tax money is spent. - Great Expectations Academy

Tax day: The key to our hearts
http://www.diamondbackonline.com/opinion/tax-day-the-key-to-our-hearts-1.2181964#.T5KoPrNWo3I
Stars:3
Tagged:Yes
1: decide what your tax dollars do - Rob Riker - 19 Apr 2011
2: earmark our taxes - Rob Riker - 19 Apr 2011
3: choose how tax dollars are spent - Rob Riker - 19 Apr 2011
4: earmark some small percentage of your tax dollars - Rob Riker - 19 Apr 2011

Tax System that allows people to choose how their money would be spent
http://www.ted.com/conversations/6241/tax_system_that_allows_people.html
Stars:3
Tagged:N/A
1: My idea is to set aside a SMALL percentage of taxes which the taxpayer got to choose how to spend it.

Taxation With Representation
http://www.ratical.org/ratville/JFK/JohnJudge/taxation.html
Stars:5
Tagged:N/A
1: Taxes, if paid by the people, should be directly allocated by the people - John Judge - 1 July 2001
2: Direct allocation of taxes - John Judge - 1 July 2001

Taxation Without Representation
http://www.insideassyria.com/archive/5/messages/6419.html
Stars:2
Tagged:No
1: decide where our tax money should go - panch - 8 Sep 2002

Taxes - If the people could choose where their tax dollars
http://www.pocketfives.com/f13/taxes-if-people-could-choose-where-their-tax-dollars-339276/
Stars:2
Tagged:No
1: choose where their tax dollars were going... where would you choose to have your tax dollars spent? - jesterwords - 23 Sept 2008
2: choose where the hell my tax dollars are getting spent - jesterwords - 23 Sept 2008

Taxing a la Carte
http://suburbdad.blogspot.com/2010/11/taxing-la-carte.html
Stars:3
Tagged:Yes
1: a la carte tax - Dean Dad - 4 Nov 2010
2: decide where the money went - Jim C - 4 Nov 2010

Taxpayers Decide How Their Money Is Spent
http://forums.contracostatimes.com/topic/participatory-budgeting
Stars:2
Tagged:No

Taxpayers Get to Choose
http://www.susanunger.net/moreArticles/TaxPayersGetToChoose.html
Stars:4
Tagged:N/A
1: choose where their tax dollars go - Susan Unger

Taxpayers should be allowed to dictate how governments spend their money.
http://www.debate.org/debates/Taxpayers-should-be-allowed-to-dictate-how-governments-spend-their-money./1/
Stars:3
Tagged:No
1: dictate how governments spend their money.

THE ALGORITHMIC THOREAU
http://www.poszu.com/2010/10/06/the-algorithmic-thoreau/
Stars:4
Tagged:N/A
1: shift where their taxes went? - 6 Oct 2010

The Madness of the Many
http://lawlegislationandlunacy.blogspot.com/2010/10/madness-of-many.html
Stars:3
Tagged:Yes
1: discretion over where their funds go

The Result of Free Choice Tax?
http://www.zoklet.net/bbs/showthread.php?t=77517
Stars:3
Tagged:No
1: free choice tax is the ability for tax payers to choose what their money goes towards - MarqueeMoon - 11 Nov 2009
2: a system where you have taxes going to what you thought was important - Vargus - 11 Nov 2009
3: decide where your taxes go - facking daht-ha - 28 Nov 2009

The Solution? Earmark Your Taxes
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1320&dat=19900727&id=FcFWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=P-oDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5572,8765818
Stars:5
Tagged:N/A
1: earmark their federal tax payments - Russell Baker - 27 Jul 1990

The Tax Man
http://www.thegabber.com/the-tax-man-cms-999-printer
Stars:2
Tagged:No
1: earmark my tax dollars to go to a certain line item - 27 Jan 2012

Tim O'Reilly
https://plus.google.com/107033731246200681024/posts/H89cRFwu6qH
Stars:1
Tagged:No
1: decide where their tax money should be spent - Robert Koritnik - 12 Dec 2011

todaze Lympian deep question o mg
http://www.sondrak.com/index.php/weblog/comments/31232/
Stars:2
Tagged:No
1: allocate a portion of my taxes to my preference - Annoyed White Male

Voluntary Tax Rates and Personalized Earmarks: How to Solve the Debate over Taxes
http://pjmedia.com/zombie/2011/08/22/voluntary-tax-rates-and-personalized-earmarks-how-to-solve-the-debate-over-taxes/
Stars:4
Tagged:Yes
1: Personalized Earmarks
2: allow each taxpayer to individually allocate which governmental expenses receive funding from that person’s tax payments
3: allocate their tax money

We all own NFA weapons!
http://www.thehighroad.org/archive/index.php/t-13001.html
Stars:2
Tagged:No
1: decide where their money went - Triad - 14 Mar 2003
2: decide exactly where their tax dollars go - illuminatus99 - 14 Mar 2003

We can’t pick and choose where tax dollars go
http://problogic.wordpress.com/2011/04/20/we-cant-pick-and-choose-where-tax-dollars-go/
Stars:2
Tagged:No
1: decide how our tax money is spent

We Should Choose Where Our Taxes Go
http://www.convinceme.net/debates/6863/We-Should-Choose-Where-Our-Taxes-Go.html
Stars:3
Tagged:No
1: choosing where the taxes go - theudas - 6 Mar 2011

We, The People
http://www.sff.net/people/jack.haldeman/people.htm
Stars:5
Tagged:N/A
1: itemize the allocation of your tax money - Jack C. Haldeman II - 1983
2: the chance to say how his money would be spent - Jack C. Haldeman II - 1983
3: portioned out her calculated tax - Jack C. Haldeman II - 1983
4: put money into the programs that touched their lives and ignored the rest - Jack C. Haldeman II - 1983

Weekend Musing: The People’s Budget
http://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2011/07/weekend-musing-the-peoples-budget/
Stars:3
Tagged:Yes
1: decide where their tax dollars would be spent - Q Continuum - 9 Jul 2011

What do you think about having people choose where their tax dollars go?
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080424184656AAOMOSe
Stars:1
Tagged:No
1: choose where their tax dollars go? - joecool123_us - 25 Apr 2008

What if Americans actually got to decide where their tax money was spent?
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090408074112AAEC52i
Stars:1
Tagged:No
1: deciding what percentage of their taxes go to each program - Drew Blood - 8 Apr 2009
2: choose the agencies of government that they do not want their taxes to go to - David M - 8 Apr 2009

What if citizens were able to choose which government agencies their tax money fund?
http://www.ted.com/conversations/465/what_if_citizens_were_able_to.html
Stars:2
Tagged:N/A
1: choose which government agencies their tax money fund - Jonathan Lanis - 20 Feb 2011
2: choose a very small percentage of taxes to go to very specific projects - Zdenek Smith - 20 Feb 2011
3: make only some portion of paid taxes freely allocatable by citizens - Mark Meijer - 21 Feb 2011

What If Taxpayers Could Decide How Their Money Is Spent?
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2010/10/what-if-taxpayers-could-decide-how-their-money-is-spent/63946/
Stars:5
Tagged:Yes
1: discretion over where their money goes, rather than just telling them how the government is spending it? - Daniel Indiviglio - OCT 3 2010

What if you could choose where your tax $ went?
http://acapella.harmony-central.com/showthread.php?1175921-What-if-you-could-choose-where-your-tax-went
Stars:2
Tagged:No
1: allocating their tax dollars to - christcd - 27 Feb 2006
2: elect where your money was allocated - christcd - 27 Feb 2006
3: allocate just our tax dollars - Zooey - 28 Feb 2006

What is Personal Tax Earmarking?
http://forums.hostsearch.com/showthread.php?20033-What-is-Personal-Tax-Earmarking
Stars:2
Tagged:No

What is Personal Tax Earmarking?
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-personal-tax-earmarking.htm
Stars:5
Tagged:N/A
1: choose where their tax dollars go. Make it happen.

What would happen if Americans had a say in how their tax money is spent?
http://grist.org/politics/2011-04-18-what-if-americans-had-a-say-in-how-their-tax-money-is-spent/
Stars:4
Tagged:N/A

Where SHOULD we spend our tax dollars?
http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?95479-Where-SHOULD-we-spend-our-tax-dollars
Stars:4
Tagged:Yes
1: determines where their taxes are spent - TheDeadlyShoe - 9 Jun 06
2: decide where your tax money goes - Nurizeko - 10 June 06

Where Should Your Tax Dollars Go?
http://usemytaxes.blogspot.com/2012/04/where-should-your-tax-dollars-go.html
Stars:3
Tagged:Yes
1: choose where your tax dollars go - xstat - April 10, 2012

Where would you want your tax dollars to go?
http://caffertyfile.blogs.cnn.com/2010/04/15/if-you-could-choose-where-would-you-want-your-tax-dollars-to-go/
Stars:2
Tagged:No
1: choose where your tax money goes

Who would like to choose where their tax money goes?
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080105072038AAKZd7K
Stars:1
Tagged:No
1: choose specifically where their tax money goes - zeek112x - 5 Jan 2008
2: Individual earmarks would not only be impossible - snoopy - 5 Jan 2008

Why can’t I earmark my taxes?
http://potterpoliticalpickle.wordpress.com/tag/paying-taxes/
Stars:5
Tagged:Yes
1: move around their tax dollars the same way we invest in our 401Ks - potterpoliticalpickle - 8 Feb 2010
2: earmark some of my taxes for - potterpoliticalpickle - 8 Feb 2010

Why can't I choose where my taxes go?
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090415110535AA956BO
Stars:1
Tagged:No

Why can't i decide where my tax dollars go?
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100528005109AAljMni
Stars:1
Tagged:No
1: decide where my taxes go - trustluvlove - 28 May 2010

Why cant I decide where my taxes go?
http://boards.adultswim.com/t5/Babbling/Why-cant-I-decide-where-my-taxes-go/td-p/61068192
Stars:3
Tagged:Yes
1: decide what government programs I want to fund? - Quicksilver - 28 July 2011
2: where would you choose to have your taxes go currently - Swimmortal - 28 July 2011

Why can't taxpayers specifically regulate how their money is being spend?
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20111028173912AA3fGdS
Stars:1
Tagged:No

Why can't we CHOOSE where our tax dollars go?
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070424113745AA6sCfw
Stars:1
Tagged:No
1: choose where your tax dollars go? - logical_christian - 24 April 2007

Why can't we choose where our tax dollars go?
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100515082341AAvhCnA
Stars:1
Tagged:No
1: choose where your tax dollars go? - Lee - 15 may 2010

Why Can't We Choose Where Our Tax Money Goes?
http://whyisthisimpossible.blogspot.com/2011/12/why-cant-we-choose-where-our-tax-money.html
Stars:2
Tagged:No
1: choose where your tax money goes? - Matthew Amos - 19 Dec 2011

Why can't we choose where our taxes go?
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110222195236AAG1Atf
Stars:1
Tagged:No
1: choose where our taxes go - Jak and Daxter - 23 Feb 2011
2: chose where their taxes went - T.O Blue - 23 Feb 2011

Why can't we pick where we want our tax money spent?
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070423191021AAGCEvp
Stars:1
Tagged:No
1: pick where we want our tax money spent - buildermeister - 23 Apr 2007
2: submit Taxes & denote where to Spend - Stephen R - 23 Apr 2007
3: Denote on Taxes by tick marks to send taxes to - Stephen R - 23 Apr 2007
4: earmark our taxes - charlienoble92001 - 23 Apr 2007

Why Mandatory Taxes Are Bad -- And How The Government Should Fix Them (But Probably Won't)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/brittanybinowski/2012/06/18/how-to-get-americans-to-pay-taxes-willingly/
Stars:5
Tagged:Yes
1: Allow people to decide where their tax money goes - Brittany Binowski - 18 June 2012
2: the government should let them as an individual decide where they want the money deducted from their paychecks for taxes to go - Brittany Binowski - 18 June 2012
3: donate money to their desired departments - Brittany Binowski - 18 June 2012
4: allowing individual tax payers to determine where their tax money goes - Zachary Weber - 18 June 2012
5: People can decide how their tax money is spent already - Zachary Weber - 18 June 2012
6: allowing people to decide where their money goes - prost - 18 June 2012

Why Not Choose Where Our Taxes Go?
http://dyn.politico.com/members/forums/thread.cfm?catid=2&subcatid=31&threadid=808171&sort=1&start=1&CurrentPage=1
Stars:3
Tagged:Yes
1: choose from perhaps 5 to 10 destinations for their own tax dollars? - Speakeasy - 26 May 2008
2: direct something like 40% of their tax dollars - MindCrime - 5 Jun 2008

Would it be a complete disaster if civilians could choose where their tax dollars went?
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/rcvgf/would_it_be_a_complete_disaster_if_civilians/
Stars:4
Tagged:N/A
1: choose where their tax dollars went? - delorted - 25 Mar 2012

Would it be possible for people to choose where their taxes go?
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=520992
Stars:3
Tagged:Yes
1: choose where their tax dollars go as soon as they also lose any benefits from things they didn't support.
2: directly choose where their taxes are allocated, so everyone gets to enjoy the benefits of everything, whether direct or indirect.

WWYD: Earmark Your Tax Dollars
http://queercents.com/2007/08/08/wwyd-earmark-your-tax-dollars/
Stars:3
Tagged:No
1: earmark my tax dollars - Allison - 8 Aug 2007

Your Money, Your Choice
http://www.democracyjournal.org/20/your-money-your-choice.php?page=all
Stars:5
Tagged:Yes
1: allocate a percentage of their income taxes to any portion of the discretionary federal budget - Cait Lamberton - 2011
2: choice in where their taxes go - Cait Lamberton - 2011
3: allocate a portion of their tax dollars - Cait Lamberton - 2011
4: put a portion of their tax dollars where their hearts are - Cait Lamberton - 2011

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Political Tolerance


Benjamin Marks wrote The Minarchist Case for Anarchism.  Here's one of my comments...

*********************

There was Buddha talking about the blind men touching different parts of an elephant…and Socrates saying…”…it seems that I am wiser than he is to this small extent, that I do not think I know what I do not know”...and Smith's Invisible Hand...and Bastiat’s Seen vs the Unseen...and Hayeks’ Conceit vs Humility...

They were all basically saying the same thing...all our perspectives are extremely limited.

What we are trying to do here is determine the proper scope of government. Given that our perspectives are extremely limited....it's impossible for any single person to really know what the proper scope of government is.

Does the proper scope of government include forcing people to pay taxes? You can say that it doesn't...but you can only say that for yourself....you can't say that for everybody. Maybe from my limited perspective people need to be nudged to contribute to the common good. Maybe I'm right...maybe I'm wrong.

So I do have an objection to allowing people to choose not to pay taxes. There's just no way I can truly know that forcing people to pay taxes is not within the proper scope of government. But the truth would be revealed by implementing pragmatarianism.

There are smarter people than myself who say that the government is not necessary...and there are smarter people than myself who say that it is necessary. It seems that I am wiser than they are to this small extent, that I'm saying that I don't know whether it is or isn't necessary. And this is why pragmatarianism is a cut above the rest.

Friday, February 10, 2012

Another Milestone - Anti-Pragmatarianism Propaganda

It's another hard-times milestone!  But beggars can't be choosers...right?  Over on the Ron Paul forums I started this thread... Why Shouldn't the Government Engage in Aggression?  In that thread, noneedtoaggress shared the very first anti-pragmatarianism propaganda...




"Can't allocate taxes toward propaganda.  Forever Pragmatarian."

What do you think?  Not bad eh?  If this had been the olden days then a copy with the typo would have been priceless.  So much for the olden days.  Well...if you do print it out...feel free to mail it to me and I'll sign it for you.  You could sell it on ebay for at least $400 for sure.

The state would allow people to allocate their taxes to some type of propaganda.  Yeah...because who knows where advertisement ends and propaganda begins.

It was a good thing I saved the image because a second later he replaced it with this version...




"The State won't allow me to allocate taxes to propaganda.  Forever Pragmatarian."

You have my thumbs up to widely disseminate this anti-pragmatarian propaganda around the internet.

Now...stare at this propaganda and listen to Natural Anthem by the Postal Service.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Kent's Critique of Pragmatarianism

Kent "The Hooligan Libertarian"...recently dedicated an entire blog entry to his evaluation of pragmatarianism.  Lot's of good criticisms from a very strong "rights" based perspective.

Kent and I have had quite a few surprisingly reasonable exchanges.  Here's our first discussion...Abortion: This Libertarian/Anarchist's position.  The discussion started off addressing abortion from the perspective of property rights and then transitioned into a discussion on taxes.

My position was that abortion was unethical from a strict interpretation of property rights.  As soon as unique  DNA is created the individual has the right not to have their property violated in any way.  The concept of property is only meaningful when there is some way to differentiate what I own from what you own.  When a woman is pregnant it becomes a situation where the woman can do whatever she wants with her body right up until the point her actions harm the individual within her.

From a pragmatic perspective though I believe that abortion should be legal.

For a couple other exchanges between Kent and I you can check out these search results.

For a critique of pragmatarianism from a revolutionary communist's perspective check out A "Hard Times" Milestone.


Friday, November 11, 2011

Pragmatarian Questions

Let's play 20 pragmatarian questions...
  1. What would the outcome be if taxpayers could directly allocate their individual taxes to the government organizations of their choice?  Meaning...at anytime throughout the year you could go to the Environmental Protection Agency website and submit a payment. 
  2. If we consider Hayek's concept of partial knowledge...what is the total information disparity between 535 congresspeople and 150+ million taxpayers?
  3. With that answer in mind...how significant would the allocation disparity be between A) 535 congresspeople considering the opportunity costs of other people's money and B) millions and millions of taxpayers considering the opportunity costs of their own "hard earned" taxes?
  4. Would people need less of a nudge to support the public goods that they actually valued?  
  5. Would people feel a "warm glow" when they paid taxes? 
  6. Would this result in the best possible use of public funds?
  7. Are there any reasonable arguments against the efficient allocation of public resources?
  8. Which government organizations would be the biggest winners/losers? 
  9. Would the resulting division of labor between taxpayers eventually reveal the ideal scope of government?
  10. Would taxpayers demand greater accountability/results given they could see exactly where their taxes were going?
  11. Given the efficient allocation/production of public resources...how "socialist" could our country go? (this question is really slippery)
  12. Could this potentially result in anarcho-capitalism?
  13. Given that the tax allocation decisions of congress are in themselves a public good...what percentage of taxpayers would just choose to allocate their taxes to congress (aka their public goods personal shoppers)?
  14. Would this system maximize political tolerance?
  15. What would happen to political parties?
  16. What are some possible unintended consequences?
  17. What effect, if any, would this have on income inequality?
  18. Which could be considered a bigger transition...passing control of taxes from a king to parliament or passing control of taxes from parliament to taxpayers?
  19. People from which political ideology (liberalism, conservatism, libertarianism, etc) would be most inclined to support this?
  20. What are the chances of this happening within our lifetimes? 

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Libertarianism

Simple

Libertarians are socially liberal and economically conservative. Social freedoms can be represented by the bedroom and economic freedoms can be represented by the boardroom.
  • Libertarians = keep government out of both the bedroom and boardroom 
  • Liberals = keep government out of the bedroom but in the boardroom 
  • Conservatives = keep government in the bedroom but out of the boardroom 
  • ??? = keep government in both the bedroom and the boardroom. 
Another simple way of thinking about libertarianism is that, to paraphrase Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr... the freedom to swing your fist ends where somebody else's nose begins. This concept is specifically referred to as J.S. Mill's Harm Principle.

Less Simple

Libertarianism is an ideology of limited government. Why should the government be limited? There are two main theoretical justifications...consequentialist (results) and deontological (rights).

The consequentialist theory is that, for most goods, the invisible hand is more efficient at allocating resources than the visible hand (planners - congress). Therefore, the state should be limited to producing goods that society values but, due to lack of financial incentive, the market largely fails to produce.

The deontological theory is that property rights trump "most" market failures. The exceptions are those public goods that deal with protecting your property. Therefore, the state should be limited to providing goods that help protect your property from others.

Practical

Libertarians want to move welfare, education, healthcare and numerous other public goods over to the private sector. These goods can be thought of as Pseudo Public Goods (PPGs) because they only loosely match the economic criteria of a public good. From the consequentialist perspective it's generally assumed/believed that the private sector will produce comparable (if not greater) levels of PPGs as the public sector. From the deontological perspective, given that property rights trump PPGs, it's irrelevant whether the private sector will produce the same levels of PPGs as the public sector.

Criticism

The free-rider problem is by far the strongest argument for not moving PPGs over to the private sector. If people had a choice whether or not to fund PPGs it's very likely that funding for PPGs would decrease significantly.

On the off-chance you manage to convince a libertarian that the private sector will under-produce PPGs they can always fall back on the deontological argument. It's their ace in the hole.

Trying to attack the deontological justification for libertarianism is as useless as trying to attack the 10 Commandments. Everybody has different value systems...they are all subjective and as such cannot be proved wrong.

Recently though I was pleasantly surprised when a member of the Libertarian Party on facebook shared a link to Jeffrey Miron's blog where he acknowledges that the free-rider problem isn't just applicable to national defense...Libertarianism and Anti-Poverty Programs *

Solutions

Libertarians, liberals and conservatives all have different value systems. It's fairly reasonable that people do not have the choice whether they pay taxes but it's very unreasonable that people are forced to fund public goods that they do not value. Tax payers should have the liberty to use their tax dollars to directly fund the public goods that they believe government should be responsible for providing. This is the pragmatarian approach.

The pragmatarian approach would allow the invisible hand to decide whether the public or private sector is better at producing a "public" good. The result would be...
  1. an optimal division of labor between the private and public sector
  2. public goods would be produced with maximum efficiency
  3. levels of all public goods would accurately reflect society's values
  4. everybody would have more freedom
  5. government would have less power
  6. taxpayers would transform into donors...and they would feel a "warm glow" when they made their "donations" to public goods.
The question then becomes...is it easier for liberals or libertarians to fully appreciate the pragmatarian solution? Pragmatarianism provides more freedom then we currently have...so libertarians should easily recognize it as being a far superior option when compared to the current system. However, some might refuse to concede that the free-rider problem is a legitimate problem. Liberals on the other hand might not sufficiently "grasp" the invisible hand to realize how much benefit they would derive from the pragmatarian approach.

So in other words, we can say that pragmatarians are either libertarians that understand the free-rider problem or liberals who understand the invisible hand.

To conclude here are a bunch of quotes. The first set establishes the connection between classical liberalism and libertarianism. The second set establishes who the most prominent libertarians were/are and the last set establishes what they thought/think about the scope of government.

Classical Liberalism and Libertarianism
  • The word liberal has an odd history. It comes from the same root as liberty, and originally it simply meant "free." In that broad sense, the United States as a whole is a liberal country, and all popular American ideologies are variants of liberalism. In a more restricted definition, a liberal was a person who believed in limited government and who opposed religion in politics. A hundred years ago, liberalism referred to a philosophy that in some ways resembeled modern-day libertarianism. For that reason, many libertarians today refer to themselves as classical liberals. - American Government and Politics Today 2008: The Essentials
  • The classical liberal movements of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries are, of course, the forebears of contemporary libertarian thought. - Total freedom: toward a dialectical libertarianism
  • Contemporary libertarians believe, with some legitimacy, that the greatest threat to liberty is an expanding government with a monopoly on state power. Their answer: limit government, protect a basic skein of fundamental rights, and the rest will work itself out. In this respect, libertarians are true heirs of the classical liberal tradition. - The Political Centrist
  • Libertarianism has been more an intellectual than popular movement since its ancestor, classical liberalism, was first articulated by John Locke. William Maddox and Stuart Lillie identified six tenets of classical liberalism to which American libertarians subscribe in a modified form today: individualism, an instrumental view of the state, limited government, individual rights, legal equality, and representative government. These six tenets cluster around two domestic policy questions - the proper role of government and the prescriptions for apparent social inequalities. - Hostile takeover: the House Republican Party, 1980-1995
  • Scalet and Schmidtz quite correctly identify the classical liberal contribution to political theory as its focus on limited government, rather than (as classical liberals are often accused of preferring) "weak" government. The size of government is not the primary concern of classical liberals; its limits are. Limited governments tend to be small relative to unlimited governments. They also note that "classical liberals have been champions of democracy." The two issues - limited government and democracy - have traditionally been linked together in classical liberal thought by the theory of constitutionalism, which limits the powers of majorities no less than of minorities. - Realizing freedom: libertarian theory, history, and practice
Most Prominent/Influential Libertarians

This source establishes the prominence of Jefferson, Tocqueville, Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill, Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich von Hayek and Ayn Rand...
Libertarians cite as progenitors Jefferson, Tocqueville, Adam Smith, and John Stuart Mill as well as economists of the Austrian school Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich von Hayek, author of The Road to Serfdom (1944). But most Republican libertarians were first inspired not by these classical liberals but by the author of The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. - New York Magazine Mar 4, 1996
This source establishes the prominence of John Stuart Mill and Herbert Spencer...
John Stuart Mill, the great and generous theorist of liberalism, and Herbert Spencer, a major exponent of laissez-faire individualism, whose writings appealed immensely to the Spanish anarchists, can be - and have been - rightly designated as 'libertarians' - Anarchist seeds beneath the snow
This source establishes the prominence of John Stuart Mill...
In contemporary times, libertarians have positioned themselves as the heirs to J. S. Mill and his defense of individual liberty. Their ideas have grown increasingly influential. Contemporary libertarians embrace Mill's On Liberty because it "sounds important libertarian themes: that individuals should be free to live as they choose so long as they don't harm others and that the power of government should be strictly limited." - Putting ideas to work: a practical introduction to political thought
This source establishes the prominence of Robert Nozick...
With thirty years' distance on its publication, one can safely assert that Robert Nozick's Anarchy, State, and Utopia (1974) has achieved the status of a classic. It is not only the central text for all contemporary academic discussions of libertarianism; together with John Rawls's A Theory of Justice (1971), it arguably framed the landscape of academic political philosophy in the last decades of the twentieth century. - Natural rights liberalism from Locke to Nozick, Part 1
This source establishes the prominence of John Stuart Mill, Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek and Ayn Rand...
This political philosophy has a long pedigree. It has roots in the classical liberalism of eighteenth- and nineteenth- century British thinkers such as John Stuart Mill, and, more recently, in the Austrian school of economics represented more powerfully in the United States by Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich Hayek. On a more popular level, the novelists Ayn Rand and Robert Heinlein proved effective propagators of a radical anti-statist, individualist ethos, and according to historian Brian Doherty, more than half of the earliest Libertarians cited one of those two authors as their primary ideological influence. - Encyclopedia of American political history
Libertarians on the Scope of Government

1776 - Adam Smith (Michael Howard)
Although Smith was against governmental interference with the market, he had a a theory of government sometimes known as the "duties of the sovereign". The system of natural liberty required the sovereign to perform three duties; defense, the exact administration of justice, and the erection and maintenance of public works. Even though he was a libertarian, Smith realized that the market could not provide certain public goods which were too expensive for provision by private individuals. - Public Sector Economics for Developing Countries

1848 - Frederic Bastiat
For ourselves, we consider that Government is and ought to be nothing whatever but the united power of the people, organized, not to be an instrument of oppression and mutual plunder among citizens; but, on the the contrary, to secure to every one his own, and to cause justice and security to reign. - Government

1865 - John Stuart Mill
That the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. - On Liberty
1865 - Herbert Spencer
And now mark that whether we consider government from this point of view, or from that previously occupied, our conclusions respecting it are in essence identical. For when government fulfils the function here assigned it, of retaining men in the circumstances to which they are to be adapted, it fulfils the function which we on other grounds assigned it — that of protector. To administer justice, — to mount guard over men's rights, — is simply to render society possible. And seeing that the two definitions are thus at root the same, we shall be prepared for the fact that, in whichever way we specify its duty, the State cannot exceed that duty without defeating itself. For, if regarded as a protector, we find that the moment it does anything more than protect, it becomes an aggressor instead of a protector; and, if regarded as a help to adaptation, we find that when it does anything more than sustain the social state, it retards adaptation instead of hastening it. - Social statics
1884 - Herbert Spencer (Tom G. Palmer)
The challenge facing Americans today in defending constitutionally limited government was succinctly stated by the English libertarian Herbert Spencer in 1884: "The function of Liberalism in the past was that of putting a limit to the powers of kings. The function of true Liberalism in the future will be that of putting a limit to the powers of Parliaments." - Realizing freedom: libertarian theory, history, and practice
1944 - Ludwig von Mises
Liberalism differs radically from anarchism. It has nothing in common with the absurd illusions of the anarchists. We must emphasize this point because etatists sometimes try to discover a similarity. Liberalism is not so foolish as to aim at the abolition of the state. Liberals fully recognize that no social coöperation and no civilization could exist without some amount of compulsion and coercion. It is the task of government to protect the social system against the attacks of those who plan actions detrimental to its maintenance and operation. - Omnipotent Government
1962 - Milton Friedman
First, the scope of government must be limited. Its major functions must be to protect our freedom both from the enemies outside our gates and from our fellow-citizens: to preserve law and order, to enforce private contracts, to foster competitive markets. Beyond this major function, government may enable us at times to accomplish jointly what we would find it more difficult or expensive to accomplish severally. However, any such use of government is fraught with danger. We should not and cannot avoid using government this way. But there should be a clear and large balance of advantages before we do. By relying primarily on voluntary co-operation and private enterprise, in both economic and other activities, we can insure that the private sector is a check on the powers of the governmental sector and an effective protection of freedom of speech, of religion, and of thought. - Capitalism and freedom
1963 - Ayn Rand
The proper functions of a government fall into three broad categories, all of them involving the issues of physical force and the protection of men’s rights: the police, to protect men from criminals—the armed services, to protect men from foreign invaders—the law courts, to settle disputes among men according to objective laws. - The Nature of Government
1973 - Friedrich Hayek (Alan O. Ebenstein)
These words were even more significant because of the government services to which he applied them - "without exception to all those services of which government possesses a legal monopoly, with the only exception of maintaining and enforcing the law and maintaining for this purpose an armed force, i.e. all those from education to transport and communications, including post, telegraph, telephone and broadcasting services, all the so-called 'public utilities,' the various 'social' insurances and, above all, the issue of money." In the last pages of Law, Legislation and Liberty, published in 1979, Hayek the classical liberal became Hayek the libertarian. - Friedrich Hayek: a biography
1974 - Robert Nozick
Our main conclusions about the state are that a minimal state, limited to the narrow functions of protection against force, theft, fraud, enforcement of contracts, and so on, is justified; that any more extensive state will violate persons' rights not to be forced to do certain things, and is unjustified; and that the minimal state is inspiring as well as right. Two noteworthy implications are that the state may not use its coercive apparatus for the purpose of getting some citizens to aid others, or in order to prohibit activities to people for their own good or protection. - The Political Theory of Robert Nozick
1995 - Richard A. Epstein
This basic insight - law must control the most lawless - lies behind the strong insistence on the basic rules of ordinary society. It also explains the libertarian's constant theoretical emphasis that the function of government is to control the use of force and fraud against the person and property of others. - Forbidden Grounds: The Case Against Employment Discrimination Laws
1996 - Dick Armey (Jacob Weisberg)
While one can reject this notion of a stripped-down state, libertarianism is a principled and coherent worldview. It provides an answer to every question. Police departments and the army - yes. Just about everything else - no. Ask most politicians, from Gingrich to Clinton, what the role of the federal government is, and you'll get a stream of mush. Poke a libertarian and you'll get a response like the one Dick Armey gave shortly after becoming majority leader: "Defend our shores, build a system of justice, and construct some infrastructure. Gee, I'm running out of other suggestions." - New York Magazine Mar 4, 1996
1998 - David Boaz
Libertarians argue that we can and should move a long way toward minimal government; outside of the protection of our rights by police, courts, and national defense, it's hard to think of goods and services that could be produced more efficiently by a government bureaucracy than in the competitive marketplace. Libertarianism: A Primer
2004 - James Walsh
Libertarians accept the need for a limited state - if only to provide basic levels of safety and security. Their focus is keeping the state limited to a disciplined - and small - number of activities. Anarchists still want to smash the mechanisms of state. As I've noted, anarchy is an emotional system. - Liberty in Troubled Times: A Libertarian Guide to Laws, Politics and Society in a Terrorized World

*[Update - 29 Oct 2011]