Backin' up to the big picture

My buddy Charles suggested I back up a bit from specific issues and outline my views on government in general.  So here we go.

 

At its root, government should serve as a framework for a nation by:

- Imposing and enforcing laws that maintain order.

- Lubricating the flow of daily life (commerce, health care, etc.), wherever possible, and jump-starting opportunities where it can (read: FDR's Depression-era efforts, NASA's space pioneering)

- Defending the state from those who might seek to destroy it.

- Giving extra opportunities to its less fortunate citizens.

- Being the voice of the masses, on any issues that require the power of the collective (giving foreign aid, bailing out industries, creating legislation).

- In all other respects, giving its citizens the freedom to do as they please.

 

The government (in our case, a representative democracy) should get its limited power from:

- The voice of the collective, heard in the November elections.

- The appropriation of necessary funds each year from each citizen.

 

In my opinon, government should not:

- Define "morality" for its citizens.

- Expend extra effort to protect its weakest, most accident-prone citizens.

- Prop up failing industries and organizations indefinitely (read: airlines, Amtrak).

- Attempt to maintain other regions of the world.

 

Like?  Have suggestions?  Let me know.

 

 

Required reading for me on this topic: The Federalist Papers and Plato's Republic.  Any other suggestions are more than welcome--but will have to be read after my next Rushdie fix.

A warm welcome

Just a quick thanks to everyone who's posted and/or read this blog so far--I appreciate the help!

 

Just so you know--I may not respond to every post on this site, but rest assured--I read every one!

 

Thanks,

Sameer

Taxes - a little to the left

So I was eating lunch with my cousin Maz a few minutes ago, and he mentioned the idea a certain Apprentice contestant had described of eliminating the Federal income tax in favor of a higher sales tax. I've heard this one before, and I love that idea! (Especially after hassling with my extraordinarily complicated Federal taxes this year).

I think it's incredibly silly that over 100 million Americans have to fill out a cryptic form every year to submit their taxes. For the people that get refunds, that means Uncle Sam held on to their $$ for the year, at 0% APR! For the people that have to pay on April 15, that means Uncle Sam didn't have the $$ he needed from them for up to 12 months! That's not to mention the sheer number of people who probably get screwed during the process (like I almost did by using an online tax tool last year)...

Here's how I think the sales tax thing could work:

• National 20% sales tax (in addition to whatever states currently collect).
  
• Sales tax is built into the advertised price on everything (like VAT in the UK)
  
• The only people who are exempt from paying it are folks below a certain threshold of annual income (say, $25,000/household).
  
• Things that are now tax-deductible are simply not taxed (mortgage interest, charitable contributions).
  

Effects:

• Simplified tax process.
  
• Immediate and accurate cash flow for the government and taxpayers.
  
• Lower income folks wind up paying 0% sales tax (so they have more disposable income).
  
• Middle-class folks pay a little less in taxes (+20% in sales tax, -~30% in income tax).
  
• The highest income folks (who typically don't pay much, if any, tax) now pay the same tax as everyone else. Their tax dollars offset the cost of lower-income folks (0% tax) and middle-class folks (-~10% tax).
  

Who will this piss off?

• The entire industry that uses the complexity of the tax code as its sole basis for existence. I figure if you set a date for this change at 10 years out, however, members of this industry will have plenty of time to find other jobs.
  
• The highest-income folks. There needs to be a way to spin this to them (maybe the amount they will save on tax advisors!)
  

In addition, the entire US economy would cool down for a short period of time as people got used to seeing prices that were 20% higher on everything (even though most people's net incomes would be higher).

A radical change, but hell if it wouldn't make April 15 a MUCH happier day for us taxpayers, as well as for the poor saps who have to work like mad on the night of April 14!

Tell me what you think...

El Announcement

I hereby throw my hat in the ring for a congressional race in 2006.  Which one?  That's a secret for now.  Why?  That's easy--I've always wanted to do this.  I'm an IT consultant by trade, and I've always said I wanted to do something bigger with my life.

 

Sure, every twentysomething wants to save the world.  Some do it by joining NGOs and other social organizations.  Others become teachers and try to change society via its children.  Still others (and a lot of people I know) decide to try to "make it" first, and then volunteer their time or money later.

 

These are all great ways to give back.  I want to work a little differently, though.  I want to change the world through policy.

 

Imagine a legislator who makes decisions based on facts as well as fairness.  Imagine a politician who takes world history into account when shaping future policy.  Imagine a congressman with the cojones to buck the system.

 

That's who I want to be.

 

That's why I'm starting this blog.  I want to run, but I don't have a solid platform and I haven't chosen a party.  I find my views are strengthened when I express them, so over the next two years I intend to write them here.  I hope everyone who reads my opinions feels free to reply with critiques and comments, and most of all I hope that this will be the beginning of something great.

 

As people of my faith say when starting something new, Bismillah.