Xerographica wrote:The Nuclear Fist wrote:So what happens when people start over funding one thing and under funding another? How are things stabilised?
What about situations, such as sudden economic disaster or natural disaster, that need suddenly massive amounts of funds to help mitigate?
Logistically speaking, at anytime throughout the year you could go directly to the EPA website and submit a tax payment. They'd give you a receipt and you'd submit all your receipts to the IRS by April 15.
Tax choice would create a market in the public sector. What would you consider to be an overprovision or underprovision of environmental protection? If there's an overprovision of environmental protection...then why would you go to the EPA website to make a payment? If you believed that we had an adequate supply of environmental protection...then why would you demand more?
Except people already overfund things. Charities have a real problem with earmarked donations, such as for relief of specific disasters, because the necessary money is achieved, and yet people still keep giving for that one cause, and they are unable to legally spend the money elsewhere. The money just ends up sitting there helping no one. And this is in the private sector you value so highly, where a market is already in place. The same thing will happen to the public sector under your idea.