How to pay for government?
- From: The Ghost In The Machine <ewill@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 07 Oct 2006 19:00:03 GMT
I have a dumb question. If there is a FAQ on this, my
apologies in advance, and just point me to it, but there
are several methods by which we can pay for government
(assuming, for the sake of simplicity, a standard
tri-pillar arrangement: judicial, legislative, executive --
similar to the one in the US and many European countries,
and that government is even necessary, desirable, or
functional).
Which is the best method, and why?
[1] Pay-as-you-use. This is vaguely Libertarian but the
general idea is to either hire private security to do legal
enforcement, judicial would be paid on a per-case basis,
and legislative would do as little work as possible,
perhaps on a volunteer basis. Presumably, this system
would work (FSVO) in an area where the laws are not in
great flux, and in any event we already have consensus on
issues such as murder and rape anyway.
[2] Income tax. Basically, the government extracts
services from a declared percentage of one's transfer
payments -- I work for XYZ Corp, they pay me, I pay
government a certain percentage out of what XYZ Corp
pays me.
[3] Sales tax. XYZ Corp and individuals also might pay
a certain percentage on everything sold (new or used)
or bought, or maybe both (buyer-seller split sales tax).
One of the (IMO) more interesting side issues to all
this, admittedly, is that government has been the
arbiter/instigator/maintainer of such things as road
projects, basic science research (e.g. telescope
maintenance and space launches), and military defense.
One might put part of military defense in the hands
of the public (but who would really want to harbor a
missile launcher or small destroyer in one's garage or
boat house, never mind a nuclear missile?), and amateur
astronomy might be useful, but roadways might get into
an interesting snarl, though it may depend on how the
individual maintainers thereof deal with such issues as
gasoline excise taxes and tracking vehicles on the roads.
There are also mutators in any built system. Briefly put,
the old Roman republic died a lingering death, and I'm
not sure I can put a finger to any one cause, though the
more or less traditional point was the assassination of
Julius Caesar in 44 BC, after Mark Antony offered him
the crown of the republic. (Julius rejected the offer,
with reluctance.)
http://www.roman-empire.net/republic/republic.html
However, the URL above also indicates various power
struggles well before then -- Lucius Cornelius Sulla being
mentioned as a dictator in about 83 BC.
How long does the US have before it becomes the Second US
Empire, with a dictatorial King and court?
(US has already been an empire, and lingering pieces of
estate -- Hawaii, Guam, and Puerto Rick come to mind --
are scattered around the globe. As players go, we were
relatively minor; in terms of land area it appears to be
a toss-up between UK and France, prior to the end of World
War II.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony )
--
#191, ewill3@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Linux. The choice of a GNU generation.
Windows. The choice of a bunch of people who like very weird behavior on
a regular basis, random crashes, and "extend, embrace, and extinguish".
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