It’s no coincidence that the crucible of income tax season should incite emotion and inspire ideas. The struggle makes us strive for a better way, and right now, I’m yearning for some tax reform.
Problem: Nobody wants to pay taxes. Even the most charitable among us dislike the act of contributing to our nation’s coffers, primarily because we have no direct say about how our money is spent. I know I would feel a lot better about paying taxes if I knew my money was going directly to education instead of defense. I prefer to cultivate minds rather than missiles. (Though I’m sure others feel the exact opposite, I wonder whether the preferences of the people would align with those of our elected representatives.)
Solution: The proliferation of crowdsourced fundraising websites - DonorsChoose, Kiva, and KickStarter - makes our federal fundraising system seem antiquated by comparison. With these platforms, the freedom of choice not only makes people happier about their contributions the transparency and engagement actually encourages more giving. As you give, simple feedback mechanisms show your contributions among the crowd with feedback about the impact of your individual contribution. Why can’t we extend the same type of choice and encourage similar civic engagement with our tax system?
Implementation: Did you know that you have the option to make a voluntary “additional contribution” on your tax return? That’s right, if you want, you can pay extra taxes if you’re feeling particularly patriotic. As first step, we should overhaul and promote the ability for people to specify the destination of those “additional contributions” to ten or twelve sectors - no specific earmarks. If promising, we could slowly transition the option to allow tax payers to flex the same choice with a percentage (10% to 30%) of their ordinary taxes.
College and university endowments do this all the time as donors specify their contributions for financial aid, development, and other specific causes. Why not do the same with our national endowment? We already vote with our wallets, after all, why not be a bit more canny about the matter?
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