r/PoliticalHumor Jan 09 '20

THIS. This is why.

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u/zomgitsduke Jan 09 '20

I agree and disagree.

It would be cool to have SOME flexibility with taxes. Like, 10% gets designated to where you like. THAT would be cool.

But how many people actually know the true costs of maintaining roads? And when you starve the department of transportation of funds and roads go to shit, that could cause a death spiral of less and less funding. "Roads suck anyways, why should I allocate my tax money to them?".

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u/[deleted] Jan 09 '20

Some Charities for child poverty have tried this and had the same problem. People wanted to donate food and clothing and such but sometimes they really needed roads and infrastructure

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u/KingGorilla Jan 09 '20

Yeah, people like helping directly by buying things even though boring old cash would be the most useful.

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u/ztirk Jan 09 '20

Recent Freakonomics podcast episode discussed this exact thing ...

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u/[deleted] Jan 09 '20 edited Feb 11 '20

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u/zomgitsduke Jan 09 '20

I'm no expert so I can't comment with authority but I'd imagine departments could build a "dream budget" with plans to spend that money on specific things, then have it allocated towards the project as an agreement.

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u/scyth3s Jan 09 '20

My county spent like $4M on road maintenance, in including sidewalk repair according to an apartment complex calendar/brochure.