National defense?
refunds
refunds
I think in practice they'd just raise taxes by "x" to pay for a refund =([some fraction of x] < 1).
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You mean exclusively only one thing? Or the one most important thing? Scientific study would be mine, NASA having less than 1% of our budget is a disgrace.
They should fund a program to make us all poor. It would fail and we'd all be rich.
joke source:
Yellowdingo, Squeakmaan, and others - you're free at any time to donate as much money as you like to the government. I'd write a check and then put in the memo line how you would like it spent. Let me know the results if you decide to try it!
Yellowdingo, Squeakmaan, and others - you're free at any time to donate as much money as you like to the government. I'd write a check and then put in the memo line how you would like it spent. Let me know the results if you decide to try it!
Not really relevant. The topic is about societal priorities and taxation, not donations. Also carries a subtle accusation of hypocrisy if one expresses a preference on how tax revenues are spent without donating all of one's post-tax income.
I've paid an average of over $16,000/year in federal taxes for the last few years. I don't think it is unreasonable for me to express a preference as to how some of that money gets spent.
To answer the original question: I believe we should provide free meals in public schools. Some people might call it a handout, but to me it is clearly an investment.
They should fund a program to make us all poor. It would fail and we'd all be rich.
To hear some tell it, that's the platform of the Democratic Party. :P
free airfare would be pretty low on my list of "things the government needs to spend money on"
Education, Conservation, Science, social programs...yeah those are a bit more important.
Not really relevant. The topic is about societal priorities and taxation, not donations. Also carries a subtle accusation of hypocrisy if one expresses a preference on how tax revenues are spent without donating all of one's post-tax income.
I didn't mean to imply hypocrisy. I meant to imply (sarcastically, as usual) that regardless of how a person states their preference for how their money is spent, it's unlikely to be spent in that way. Even if you write them a check yourself "FOR NASA" or similar. The topic was, as you say, not "are we taxed too much / not enough" but rather "how should taxes be spent".
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EDUCATION EDUCATION EDUCATION....Making it easier to get, advertising it more to make it more appealing, creating scientifically grounded programs, teaching a wide range of literature which includes controversial ideas and issues, and developing special programs for children with special needs that are truly individualized....and maybe if there is money left over creating special programs for advanced/gifted/genius level children as well. The greatest sin the USA has ever committed is taking money away from public education and allowing monetary interest dictate what is taught in school.
The USA also lets small but vocal groups threaten education systems into eliminating parts of the curriculum based on those vocal groups’ personal beliefs.
We need to be teaching our children how to think not what to think. The future is in the hands of the innovative not the indoctrinated.
Research into water reclamation technologies and space travel. And they should cut all subsidies for biofuels and the various green programs.
Why? Because usable water sources are dwindling rapidly, and have been for some time. If those water sources get low enough without some technology to supplement them, you can pretty much bet there won't be an environment to save once the resulting wars finally grind down.
Roads.
I didn't mean to imply hypocrisy. I meant to imply (sarcastically, as usual) that regardless of how a person states their preference for how their money is spent, it's unlikely to be spent in that way. Even if you write them a check yourself "FOR NASA" or similar. The topic was, as you say, not "are we taxed too much / not enough" but rather "how should taxes be spent".
Ahh...my mistake. I apologize.
I think all the taxes should be given to me. I will make very good use of them.
Defense spending benefits everyone in a profound if indirect way. Preservation of its citizens against the predations of outside hostile actors is perhaps the most fundamental purpose of the state.
I don't think anyone is arguing that defense isn't important -- but I also don't think we need to be spending as much as we are, either.
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I didn't think anybody was. But if we had to spend money on only one thing, arguably, defense is the state's most fundamental purpose. To be sure, there are other things, even other things that are more important; but if a state can't secure itself, it can hardly be called a state.
I didn't think anybody was. But if we had to spend money on only one thing, arguably, defense is the state's most fundamental purpose. To be sure, there are other things, even other things that are more important; but if a state can't secure itself, it can hardly be called a state.
I read the question as "What is the one thing that you think everyone's taxes should be spent on [but currently aren't]?"
But re-reading the OP, I think your interpretation was correct.
I didn't think anybody was. But if we had to spend money on only one thing, arguably, defense is the state's most fundamental purpose. To be sure, there are other things, even other things that are more important; but if a state can't secure itself, it can hardly be called a state.
And defense spending doesn't actually secure a state that well; the state needs to be relatively secure to begin with before it can even begin to spend on defense.
The spending on water that I suggested is related to that. If water supplies in the U.S. continue to dry up, it won't matter how much you spend on defense; the resulting civil war due to water shortages will guarantee there won't be a United States to defend.
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Yellowdingo, Squeakmaan, and others - you're free at any time to donate as much money as you like to the government. I'd write a check and then put in the memo line how you would like it spent. Let me know the results if you decide to try it!
Says unconditional gift to US government. You can say NASA all you want, but it goes on hookers and blow for the east wing of the Whitehouse.
I didn't think anybody was. But if we had to spend money on only one thing, arguably, defense is the state's most fundamental purpose. To be sure, there are other things, even other things that are more important; but if a state can't secure itself, it can hardly be called a state.And defense spending doesn't actually secure a state that well; the state needs to be relatively secure to begin with before it can even begin to spend on defense.
The spending on water that I suggested is related to that. If water supplies in the U.S. continue to dry up, it won't matter how much you spend on defense; the resulting civil war due to water shortages will guarantee there won't be a United States to defend.
Indeed, making sure what you've got is worth defending (and that people aren't leaving in droves for somewhere they can physically survive in, or just dropping down dead) would seem to be more important than defense :)
Prosecuting, convicting, and imprisoning politicians for their criminal activities.
There are a few things that MUST be the government's job. One is securing the country from external threats, so a military of some sort. Another is securing the safety of the citizens, at least the part that needs to employ violence to be effective, so a police force of some sort. Finally, parts of conflict resolution and sentencing, so a legal system of some sort.
These are the only things that MUST be handled via tax money, because they use some sort of violence, which needs to be held as a monopoly. Everything else CAN (though not necessarily should) be handled by others, and thus can be financed in other ways.
So, if there is only one thing the government should do, it's to handle the violent part of life in the country.