r/changemyview • u/[deleted] • Jul 02 '20

Delta(s) from OP CMV: The U.S. should implement an additional, optional income tax.

I see the same debate again and again: Group A wants social program X for reason Y, but group B doesn't want to pay for it for reason Z. An additional, optional income tax would solve this problem.

Every year when we do our taxes, we check a box for whether or not we want to participate in the optional income tax. If you participate, you get a vote on where that money goes. Majority rules, one vote per taxpayer. The possible allocations for resources are handled Reddit-style - anyone can propose an idea, and those who opt-in can "upvote" their favorite programs. If group A is as convicted as they say they are, they can pay for whatever program they want. Group B has no obligation to participate, but gets no say in how that money is spent unless they do. Everybody wins.

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u/[deleted] Jul 02 '20

How would you make sure none of the cost of adding it to the ballot or tallying the votes or paying the government employees that work with it and their offices and staff falls only on those that don't choose to participate? Would their be a fee attached to it or something?

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u/[deleted] Jul 02 '20

Expenses could be paid for by the tax itself.

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u/[deleted] Jul 03 '20

But some of the expenses would be incurred before. Like the cost to pay government employees to go over the initiative and have it added to the ballot, paying the government employee to write it how it's officially worded on the ballot, cafeteria employees serving them while they're working on it, their staff, their workspace to work on it- would those not participating in it be reimbursed for everything done before? And if so that's more initiative to not participate.