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Path: utzoo!linus!security!genrad!decvax!harpo!eagle!hou5h!hou5a!hou5d!hogpc!houxm!hou2a!murphy
From: murphy@hou2a.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.politics,net.taxes
Subject: earmarking taxes
Message-ID: <164@hou2a.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 2-Nov-83 11:48:35 EST
Article-I.D.: hou2a.164
Posted: Wed Nov  2 11:48:35 1983
Date-Received: Sun, 6-Nov-83 06:08:05 EST
Organization: Bell Labs, Holmdel NJ
Lines: 22


               Agencies that feel the need to advertise to attract
         earmarked tax money could do so, with their spending on this
         limited to some fraction of their allotment; this
         could help introduce a bit more accountability, since the
         agency could be required to disclose publicly just what
         it is spending the money on, and the taxpayers could then
         judge how well their money is being spent (or misspent).
               Large taxpayers, such as big corporations, could
        benefit from favorable publicity by earmarking siginificant
        parts of their taxes to "little guy" causes such as education
        and health programs for the poor.
                The idea of starting off the earmarking by having it
        apply to some limited portion of the taxpayers' money (with
        the rest of the money being spent in the usual manner) seems
        likely to be more palatable, and would allow evaluation of
        the idea in practice on a limited scale to see how well it
        works. The amount of tax money subject to the earmarking
        scheme could be adjusted up or down as experience dictates.
               Presenting the idea to citizens' advocate groups, such
        as COMMON CAUSE also sounds like a good idea.
                                                 Rich Ganns
                                                 hou2a!murphy