Letter to my Representitive and Senators
I started to write a letter to send to my representatives and senators about what I would like to see to them. My intent is to have it be fairly strongly worded.
I was wondering if others here would take a look at it and provide their feedback. It needs to be concise enough that someone will read it but long enough to cover a few major points.
As it evolves I will update it on this thread, and anyone my use it, in whole or in part for there own letters to there representatives..
I was wondering if others here would take a look at it and provide their feedback. It needs to be concise enough that someone will read it but long enough to cover a few major points.
As it evolves I will update it on this thread, and anyone my use it, in whole or in part for there own letters to there representatives..
It would change the motivations of people voting so yes, I want the one fat tax only because it would open eyes. It is also the reason why we will likely never see it happen.
The continental congress tried the voluntary method and we were bankrupt. Washington and Hamilton started the method of clubbing some minority over the head (by the majority) with the whiskey tax and we have been doing ever since.
We do have to pay back the money we have borrowed and we do have to operate a military (though we can exist with a much smaller one). How do we pay for it with no taxes?
If there is no tax how to you propose we pay for things that have to be done to have a society. In particular how do you pay for a military to protect individual property rights without a tax?
Without a military we will not have our individual rights for long. Freedom has costs, how do you propose we pay those costs?
What I am asking, and what you keep refusing to answer is:
How do you plan to pay for the costs of protecting your freedom and property rights? Not my freedom or property rights, but yours?
You sound like a anarchist moocher rather than a socialist moocher.
Paying for copyrights and trade marks each year if you want them enforceable would be a perfect wan to handle that aspect.
I think most of the services required by government could be paid for just like in business, I purchase what I want by paying an annual fee for the service to be available to me. Schools, libraries, roads, police and fire departments can all work this way.
The one I have never found, from rand or anyone else is how to pay for military, thus why I ashed about that one. The best suggestion is a head tax or sales tax everyone pays.
I'm trying this again. :)
I like the idea of deciding to pay for police or fire as a yearly deal, here's my concern about that and the military-I don't want a feudal society. it breaks down too easily. If we have more than one private police situation, we're back to the thug kind of mentality-pay me for your protection. we have to agree on some things. But with fire fighting, I think it works well. In the states there are now areas that contract with fire departments individually or in townships. If your house goes up in flames well-you aren't contracted, well there's a risk to be assessed or I suppose you could be sued by nearby homeowners-maybe that already happens anyway. I'm not sure.Trademarks, copyrights and patents are already handled this way. The PTO is self-funding. The only self-funded agency in the government. All protections are provided through fees. Infringement issues are handle through the courts. It would work really well, but the general treasury STEALS from their fee base-over 1B during the last decade, so their efficiency has suffered greatly, don't get me started, gggrrrrr...
however, I am picking up from David that he's all for feudal- so he can hang out off the grid and be prepared if there's trouble for whomever he's prepared to infrastructure and protect. I think he's probably exceptional in his ability to handle those things. I don't get the efficiency of the choice, but it's his choice.
To get out of this we enacted the whiskey tax, and put down the whiskey rebellion. I disagree with the whiskey tax (one of the few things Washington did that set a bad example for later years) because it was a minority paying for the expenses of all.
The result of no flat tax that everyone paid an equal percentage was, in the very early part of our country, a tax that some minority paid (whiskey producers) to cover the debts we (the citizens) had incurred. Thus making the majority a bunch of moochers of the whiskey producers.
It is a complex problem to look at what the best way to collect revenue is and how to keep that method from getting out of control as it has today.
I did not realize the PTO was self-funding. That is cool, and the way it should be with anything that you can do it with.
Thanks for the post.
What about farm subsidies?
Why an Income tax? I agree with you that it would be better as a sales tax. I fear that if we ask for a sales tax it would morph into an additional tax rather than replacement tax.
Nice points on EPA, Department of Interior and farm subsidies (actually subsidies in general).
• Tax
o Income tax needs to be the only federal tax on US entities. This means citizens, corporations and investment taxes. It needs to be charged against all forms of income at the same rate (corporate taxes, capital gains taxes go away and income taxes are applied to these entities and income types at the same rate)
o All other federal fees and taxes (anything where the federal government further steals money from its citizens) needs to be revoked. IE not death tax, no FICA…. Alter the federal income tax rate accordingly
o Work towards a fair tax that charges each person the same rate regardless of their income level or any other standing. This is the only way a tax is fair and they must be brought into a state of fairness between all those that pay them. No graduated tax schedule, no deductions. A flat rate that is identical for everyone.
• Borrowing
o We need to operate within our means, and pay down a minimum of 5% of what we have borrowed every year. (while I realize we cannot hit this quickly, it should be our goal and as such be discussed on how we get there.)
• Foreign Aid
o End it. Until we can pay for what we have here at home, foreign aid is a great thing that we cannot afford.
• United Nations
o End our financial Contributions. Again until we can take care of our finances here we cannot afford it.
• Welfare System
o End it. This will have to be a gradual thing, but it belongs in local communities where there will be far less waste. Not at the federal level, or even the state level.
• Social Security
o At worst the retirement age needs to increase greatly (say to 80) and at best it needs to be eliminated along with the taxes associated with it.
• Military Spending
o Lower it. We do not need to be the American Empire. We need bases that protect our own lands, not the lands of the Germans, the Japanese or any other lands. We need to respect their sovereignty and their ability to keep it on their own, or lose it on their own.
• Department of Education
o Work to eliminate it at the federal level. Our school systems have gotten worse since the federal government became involved, get back out. Let the states run the schools or even better let counties or cities do it. The smaller and more local the better. We need a melting pot of competition and ideas in our school system on how to best teach our kids. This has always worked better than some buacracy telling us how to do it form the top.
• Department of Urban Development
o Eliminate it. What are we doing attempting to control urban development from the federal government? Its just plain wrong.
• Department of Energy
o Eliminate this department. States should run this. They will do it better and every state would be in competition for providing more cost effective and clean power. That competition would bring in good ideas and each of the states would improve and take ideas from each other that worked. Right now this is a sink hole that simply sucks money out of the government.
In short if you vote for anything that expands the role of the federal government (its well outside its constitutional scope now) you are not only failing to represent me, but you are a traitor to your country. The federal government is too big, too powerful and controls far too much of our lives. It has expanded beyond its constitutionally defined scope. It did so when the federal government started to assist with railroad construction because “It was too big for the private sector to do on its own.” This too big to fail mentality has continued on and off since that time and it must be rooted out of our thinking. Any Representative or Senator that is not attempting to root out this concept, lower the federal government’s scope/power and control is an enemy to the United States of America and a traitor to the constitution.
Did it really matter that the declaration of independence was written? Or that the Burgess brought up there grievances with England before that multiple times? Or that the Boston tea party was the result of the rejection of the Burgess suggestions on the 17 taxes forced against the colonists?
It did not change the course of the king, but it did make it so that when action was needed, it was very clear who had initiated force. The requests and latter demands were well documented and done in the open, honestly.
I think it the reason the US revolution was successful and formed the government it did at the end rather than end up with a dictator of some type as all other revolutions I have studied did. There may be another somewhere in history where the revolution did not simply put a different dictator in charge, but I do not know of it.
If we are to do something about it, we must list out what we want to those with the power to do something about it, repeatedly and as often as we can, until they address it, the system collapses or we have support for a declaration of independence again.
What else can you do? Are we not remiss if we do nothing?