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From: eder@ssc-vax.UUCP (Dani Eder)
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Re: Tax-voluntary check-off system
Message-ID: <608@ssc-vax.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 8-Nov-83 12:01:21 EST
Article-I.D.: ssc-vax.608
Posted: Tue Nov  8 12:01:21 1983
Date-Received: Thu, 10-Nov-83 00:30:54 EST
References: <2624@utcsrgv.UUCP>
Organization: Boeing Aerospace, Seattle
Lines: 28


                                           8 November 1983

     Being Election Day in the US it is an appropriate time to comment
on tax check-offs.  We have an equivalent system at the local level
where you vote to approve or disapprove bond issues and school levys.
At least in Washington State, there have been numerous instances where
schools submitted too high a levy request (which authorizes them to tax
property owners to support the schools), it failed, they lowered their
request, and it passed.

     This may be a crude system, but it does allow the people who are
being asked to pay the taxes to express their opinions on the worth of
the activity being supported.

     For a voluntary checkoff system, the issue has been raised 'what
happens if not enough money is voted for garbage collection', which
I take to be a case of the larger question 'what if not enough is
allocated to an 'essential' service'.  Again, using a local example,
we have private garbage collection where I live now.  We pay by the
can, more or less.  If you look really hard, there are many 'essential
services' that could be performed privately.  In the case of utilities
such as roads, gas taxes or tolls are appropriate ways to pay for them
because the users are the ones who pay for them.

                                            Dani Eder
                                            Boeing Aerospace