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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!floyd!harpo!seismo!hao!cires!nbires!opus!rcd
From: rcd@opus.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Re: How to Solve NASA's budget problems
Message-ID: <277@opus.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 26-Mar-84 22:31:03 EST
Article-I.D.: opus.277
Posted: Mon Mar 26 22:31:03 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 27-Mar-84 02:57:06 EST
References: <640@pyuxa.UUCP> <805@dciem.UUCP>
Organization: NBI, Boulder
Lines: 21

<>
>> ... Why don't we all, every man jack and woman jane and
>>kid little just send $10.00 to NASA.  Let's see now, there are around
>>...
>>There must be a way to work this out
>>so we don't have to pay so much in Federal taxes, Hmmm.  
>In Canada, there is a tax deduction for "Gifts to Canada or to a Province".
>Don't you have the same?

Well, yeah, there are things like that in some states and for some
purposes.  Trouble is, they invariably backfire.  As soon as there are
donations to any otherwise-government-supported "worthy institution", the
budget gets cut correspondingly.  Of course, if the donations drop, the
budget doesn't come back.
More generally, you can try to steer government priorities with
contributions, but legislators make up their own minds on how the money
gets spent.  The equivalent of a "general fund" is always so much bigger
than any specific contributions that they get the final say in
distribution.
-- 
{hao,ucbvax,allegra}!nbires!rcd