Give the Money Back

In my last post, I suggested allowing individuals to opt-out of Social Security and Medicare, saving the nation money over the long haul by buying people out now.

We can also reduce discretionary spending - the unconstitutional spending on education, the Drug War, useless wars, etc. The plan would be modified from what I suggested two years ago. That "dollar for dollar spending cut" was had the entire budget in mind, including non-discretionary spending like Social Security and Medicare. The revised plan would apply only to discretionary spending.

Let's say discretionary spending at $1.2 trillion - $4,000 for every American. Cut the budget by 10%, and that's $400 for every American. So here's an idea. Give people "refunds" for the amount of government that is cut from the previous year. After everything else is figured, the final line of one's income form will be that amount of the budget cut per capita (such as $400 for a 10% cut) multiplied by the number of people in the household. This their "refund," deducted from the amount they owe or added to the amount they get back.

The rationale is that each person was getting $4,000 of government services, and now they're each getting just $3600. They should be reimbursed for their loss. This would not otherwise affect the tax and deficit situation that would otherwise have existed without the spending cut, because the tax cut is exactly equal to the spending cut.

This would create public pressure on Congress to cut government services for a change, because the members of Congress could boast of returning money back to their community - tax cuts as the ultimate pork barrel project. And this won't effect their entitlements, either. Instead, they will ask themselves just how much of the federal goverment do they really need, compared to the cost. Would they rather incarcerate pot users, for instance, or get some cash back?

If faced with that option, we will probably find more people converting to libertarianism.