I’d be willing to pay higher taxes for a real expedition to Mars. A useful moon base would also get me to feel better about higher taxes. I’d probably be willing to pay higher taxes for some useful infrastructure improvements as well. I’m also willing to pay higher taxes for some big ticket science projects (fusion, super collider, etc) that simply can’t be funded by private corporations because they are just too expensive.
Other than that I’d rather pay less taxes if it’s all the same to you. I don’t expect to pay less…it would just be nice.
Well, I’m not American, so these may not gel well with everyone else. In order:
Funding for more, and better-paid, policemen and teachers.
Improved UHC, including contraception, abortion & HIV treatment (this is already in place but underfunded) - with provisions on healthcare provider retention when state funded (brain drain is quite a problem)
Improved PUBLIC transport (and a complete disbanding of the current minibus system)
Expanded, non-affiliated anti-corruption investigators with teeth
Free public countrywide broadband, a service I think the government should be in the business of providing, just like road, rail, TV, post and telephones. Essential infrastructure.
whoops, I forgot:
A greatly expanded, expedited nuclear power program, railroaded past the severely misguided attempts of environmental groups to stop it. A regional network of power plants using PBMR tech to eventually divorce us from coal. We are a world supplier of U, damn it, we should be using that shit ourselves.
-Bio-diesel research to eliminate dependency on foreign oil
-New technologies that bring manufacturing jobs back
-Expedite thin-film solar cell production so the current plague of overpriced solar cell landfill will die a timely death.
-Medical research
-More medical research
-2 corks for Al Gore to prevent any more GH gasses from escaping.
Improved education
Rational and extensive public transportation
universal healthcare
Paying down the national debt, but only once we’ve actually come up with a system to require a balanced budget.
A. This is an easy one. I’d pay higher taxes to keep the government from borrowing money–which my future corollaries would have to pay for in taxes.
B. Investment in medical & nursing training as well as clinics & hospitals. A greater supply of doctors, nurses, & hospital space would cut medical prices, & it’s very hard in the present situation to get private agencies to pay for future personnel & infrastructure.
C. Environmental regulators with teeth, to actually protect our natural resources & wild spaces rather than gesturing vainly. This includes patrolling our fisheries & willingness to use lethal force in defense of same.
Note that in each case, the country is coming out ahead by not cheaping out in the short term.
ETA: I’m sure that there are more, but those off top my head.
D. Oh yeah! Abolition of tuition at state colleges; in fact, all students should be compensated (probably at just below minimum wage) for their class time.
Better public schools, first and foremost by better pay for teachers.
Better public transportation and infrastructure.
Possibly free college for most, although I think a lot of college costs are absurd to start with, so some reform there first.
Accessible, affordable health care for all or most, but see caveat on colleges.
As a Yank, I find this idea theoretically intriguing. I wonder if we’d have 1/10 the present military budget if the government were funded by volunteers who earmarked their funds for given purposes.
Better fund the judicial system and police, if it would ensure a more streamlined and just system.
Pay down the national debt.
Secure the borders, and by that, I don’t mean keep more people out, but just ensure that it is known who’s coming in.
Get rid of the pubic school system and establish a voucher program equivalent either to the amount of money already spent per student or as much as would be necessary.
Of course, if I were God-Emperor of America, there would be a lot fewer other programs, so it would be a net tax decrease. And I couldn’t care less about public transportation, which seems to always show up on these lists.
I’ll complicate it slightly by not restricting myself to ‘higher taxes’ in the yearly cash-in-cash-out accounting system the gubmint uses. I’ll use a more standard (GAAP-like) system of accounting that every private corporation in the US is required to use.
The U.S. government currently has a liability payable to IdahoMauleMan of several hundred thousand dollars. That’s the cumulative liability of all the years I have been paying SS taxes. I’ve been paying them for over 20 years, to be exact, and the several hundred thousand dollar figure is payable in a value of future dollars when I retire.
So that’s money the government already owes me and will need to tax you, and your children, in order to pay me back.
My offer? Keep it. It’s a gift. Don’t worry about having to pay it back. Use it to pay down the national debt, buy weapons, or power Maxine Waters’ and Michael Capauno’s microphones so they can continue with more hilarious theater like the bank CEO hearings of yesterday.
But the deal is…you can’t take any more of my money via SS taxes. Keep what you already have as a gift. But don’t take any more of my money. I’ll take care of myself when I retire.
Logically, this issue could only come up if everything the government was doing were something I’d be willing to pay more for – if not, it would make more sense to transfer existing revenues from less worthwhile uses to more beneficial ones.
Need I point out that this condition has not been met?
The outlawing of industrial farming methods that treat animals like meat making machines. If that meant that taxes had to be raised so farmers got financially compensated, so be it.
Higher wages for the “hands at the bed”. Nurses who care for the sick, the elderly, little kids, all get underpayed, I feel. But I would say that can be done without raising taxes: just cut out a few layers of middle management.
It wouldn’t mean higher taxes…it would mean starvation for millions, maybe hundreds of millions of people. I’m guessing that’s not what you REALLY want…right?
He’s not calling for the abolition of agriculture, just inhumane, whole-life-in-the-CAFO style “factory farming.” Spare me the agribusiness bullshit, Americans are over-nourished even after throwing food away.
