28.2.08 by Jason
BACK, BUT ONLY FOR THIS POST
...because I still live on Multiply. But please, read on...
Okay, so if you've been following Philippine current events, we're chest-deep in another stupid government scandal. And while I may act ambivalent about the whole bit, I am generally concerned about where this country is heading. The government says that our economy is the best it's been in 31 years. But it's not good enough. People are STILL starving and well, in terms of infrastructure, we still pay the highest price for the lowest quality. This is progress you say?
So the children of People Power 1 are now grown up. We have the income, the numbers and, more importantly because of the Interwebs, the power to influence. Friend Lawin has an interesting germ of an idea of bringing about People Power 2.0. Read up, and if you're interested, spread the word and let's see where we can take this.
---
*Please feel free to repost this on your blog. - Jason
Income tax, in an ideal world, is how a government generates money in order to fund its programs and functions, pay government workers' salaries, and make sure that everything works properly for the benefit of the citizenry. A cool idea, taxes. It's democracy in action. It's people pooling resources to make government (and sanity and stability) possible.
But all you have to do is check out our unemployment rates, our declining standards of education, the rise in homelessness, and the proliferation of potholes and you see that conditions are far from ideal. After years and years of debt servicing and the Armed Forces being top priorities when it comes to budget allocation, we're still bilions of dollars in debt. And we can still only sustain less than ten minutes of full-scale conventional warfare before wiping out our ammo reserves. It's almost too sad.
And it's not even that I don't want to pay my taxes. I know it's needed. I just want the money to be put to better use. I want to feel that it makes a difference in a way that's valuable to ME and not just to some faceless board or think tank.
So WHAT IF we could choose exactly where our income tax goes to? When our returns are filed, we fill out little boxes stating the percentages or departments or issues that our taxes will support. For example, if I had my way, I'd like MY taxes to go to education, the arts, and public works. It's a more direct and participative way of doing taxes. It makes taxes feel relevant and meaningful again. Plus government bodies and departments will be compelled to talk more about their programs and why you should put your tax money in their program instead of others. Sure, I know there's bare minimums that should be maintained ond that you can't have departments without money at all, but I figure that's what the OTHER taxes can fund. INCOME tax, well, I think that's something us income earners deserve to have more say about. Heck, with this kind of system in place, the citizenry can actually direct policy and government action with more force and finality than some convention, lobby, or rally. Make the final destination of income tax controllable by the tax payer and you'll have real honest-to-goodness People Power that even EDSA I would have trouble matching.
I'm no economist or governance specialist. But I know that what I've outlined above makes sense. It makes us all more participative. It makes government more accountable. And it makes taxes not so painful.
I'm looking for people who can help turn this idea into a proposal of some sort. With all the professional bells and whistles. Something we can send to governement as a real and solid proposition. If this is interesting to you, if this is something you'd like to see happen, and if you're interested in more intelligent and more constructive mass action, let's get together. Let's meet. Let's talk. And then let's change the world.
...because I still live on Multiply. But please, read on...
Okay, so if you've been following Philippine current events, we're chest-deep in another stupid government scandal. And while I may act ambivalent about the whole bit, I am generally concerned about where this country is heading. The government says that our economy is the best it's been in 31 years. But it's not good enough. People are STILL starving and well, in terms of infrastructure, we still pay the highest price for the lowest quality. This is progress you say?
So the children of People Power 1 are now grown up. We have the income, the numbers and, more importantly because of the Interwebs, the power to influence. Friend Lawin has an interesting germ of an idea of bringing about People Power 2.0. Read up, and if you're interested, spread the word and let's see where we can take this.
---
*Please feel free to repost this on your blog. - Jason
Income tax, in an ideal world, is how a government generates money in order to fund its programs and functions, pay government workers' salaries, and make sure that everything works properly for the benefit of the citizenry. A cool idea, taxes. It's democracy in action. It's people pooling resources to make government (and sanity and stability) possible.
But all you have to do is check out our unemployment rates, our declining standards of education, the rise in homelessness, and the proliferation of potholes and you see that conditions are far from ideal. After years and years of debt servicing and the Armed Forces being top priorities when it comes to budget allocation, we're still bilions of dollars in debt. And we can still only sustain less than ten minutes of full-scale conventional warfare before wiping out our ammo reserves. It's almost too sad.
And it's not even that I don't want to pay my taxes. I know it's needed. I just want the money to be put to better use. I want to feel that it makes a difference in a way that's valuable to ME and not just to some faceless board or think tank.
So WHAT IF we could choose exactly where our income tax goes to? When our returns are filed, we fill out little boxes stating the percentages or departments or issues that our taxes will support. For example, if I had my way, I'd like MY taxes to go to education, the arts, and public works. It's a more direct and participative way of doing taxes. It makes taxes feel relevant and meaningful again. Plus government bodies and departments will be compelled to talk more about their programs and why you should put your tax money in their program instead of others. Sure, I know there's bare minimums that should be maintained ond that you can't have departments without money at all, but I figure that's what the OTHER taxes can fund. INCOME tax, well, I think that's something us income earners deserve to have more say about. Heck, with this kind of system in place, the citizenry can actually direct policy and government action with more force and finality than some convention, lobby, or rally. Make the final destination of income tax controllable by the tax payer and you'll have real honest-to-goodness People Power that even EDSA I would have trouble matching.
I'm no economist or governance specialist. But I know that what I've outlined above makes sense. It makes us all more participative. It makes government more accountable. And it makes taxes not so painful.
I'm looking for people who can help turn this idea into a proposal of some sort. With all the professional bells and whistles. Something we can send to governement as a real and solid proposition. If this is interesting to you, if this is something you'd like to see happen, and if you're interested in more intelligent and more constructive mass action, let's get together. Let's meet. Let's talk. And then let's change the world.
Labels: People Power 2.0
