This is long but worth the read.
Shouldn’t you have the right to determine how your tax dollars are spent? Of course you should. Shouldn’t you have the right to representative government? Of course you should. It is what our country was founded on.
One of the main contributing factors in the American Revolution was taxation without representation. American colonists were forced to pay taxes to the British government but they had no say in how much or how often the taxes were collected and they had no say in how the taxes were used. The British took their crops, their livestock, and quartered in their homes without the consent of the colonists and without recompense for what the British took. Many colonists had left Europe to get away from oppressive regimes only to have the British government follow them.
Eventually the colonists had enough, they held a little tea party, and they let the British Crown know how unhappy they were. When the British refused to listen to the colonists or to give them any rights other than the right to pay taxes the colonists decided that they had had enough and the seeds of revolution were sown.
The same conditions exist in America today. Our elected misrepresentatives create agencies, bureaus and programs and spend our tax dollars without our consent or approval. When was the last time the US citizen was allowed to decide what government agencies and programs their money was being spent upon? I know it wasn’t during my lifetime.
Our tax dollars go to support things which we would choose not to support. We are stuck paying taxes for items that our corrupt and / or uninformed misrepresentatives have decided to force upon us, many times as a result of special interest groups, or in an effort to reach out to small segments of the population to get their votes. They do not care if they saddle 85% of us with something WE DON’T WANT in pursuit of the votes of the 15% of the people that do.
They care not how much they spend or how much our government goes into debt. Until a few decades ago the United States had a AAA+++ credit rating, the highest of all credit ratings. Now we are over 20 TRILLION dollars in debt and the AAA+++ credit rating is gone. Republicans have failed repeatedly to rein in government spending and to protect the rights of individuals. They talk the talk without walking the walk. They easily cave to the slightest threat that someone may not vote for them. They believe that getting reelected is far more important than what is best for this country. They care not about the future of the United States or the condition of its citizens, they only care about their own personal power and wealth.
Worse yet, the Democratic party absolutely refuses to entertain any ideas of spending reductions. Each time the budget comes up the Democrats hold the budget hostage until everything they want is paid for. They don’t have any real ideas or solutions so they just want to make everyone a government employee ala Bernie Sanders or to pass out money THAT IS NOT THEIRS to buy votes for their party. Not only do they spend money that is NOT THEIR OWN, they spend YOUR money, your CHILDREN’S money, THEIR children’s money and the money of children yet unborn. They are willing to steal from the future to buy votes today, because they have no real solutions on anything. I do. It is called The HeinLineback Plan for Fair Government and Representative Taxation.
Our elected misrepresentatives have shown that they are not responsible with our money and they should not be able to decide how it is spent.
In the first American Revolution shots were fired and people died. I do not propose violent methods. The Second American Revolution can be bloodless. I now propose a plan which will enable the citizens of the United States to take the government away from the irresponsible and put it back in the hands of the people.
The HeinLineback plan is a combined government reduction and taxation plan that limits the ability of our government officials to sell us out in pursuit of their own ends. It is very simple and it is the ONLY fair tax plan being proposed. A great side benefit is a more responsible government.
The bare bones are as follows:
In the first year all tax rates will remain exactly the same as they are. The ONLY difference is EACH AND EVERY PERSON in the United States that pays taxes will be able to designate how the tax dollars will be used.
Each person that so chooses will be able to log onto a site monitored by citizen watchdog groups and designate how their tax dollars are used. Each person will be able to designate by program, agency or governmental department where they want their tax dollars to go. If, for some reason, they choose NOT to designate where their tax dollars go, they can opt to have their taxes go into a general fund. It is not the idea of this plan to force any citizen to do anything they don’t want to do, in fact it is quite the opposite.
If you believe that it is important to support the poor then you can designate your tax dollars to go to programs such as welfare and other public assistance. If you believe that having a strong defense is vital to our national security you can designate your tax dollars to be largely used there. If you are concerned about our infrastructure there will be a place for that. If our national debt is your concern there will be a way to apply your taxes to that.
The benefits of this plan are threefold. First and foremost it will limit our elected officials ability to add and/or fund programs for special interest groups against the will of the American voter. The second effect will not be as immediate, but it WILL lead to a reduction in government spending as Departments, Agencies and Programs which the American people refuse to fund cease to exist. As the agencies that Americans choose not to fund cease to exist more funds will be available for what they DO want to fund. Eventually only programs citizens CHOOSE to fund will be funded and the tax burden will be reduced as people will no longer be paying for programs and services which they choose not to pay for.
This will also have the effect of forcing governmental agencies and departments to be more responsive to the American people because if they fail to provide the services they are supposed to provide to the American people they will be defunded and they will cease to exist.
Ideally, AT EACH LEVEL, from the local to the federal, the American citizen will be able to decide how those taxes are applied. The tax plan will include use-based taxes such as gasoline taxes, property taxes, etc., etc. No longer will the average citizen be forced to pay for things they do not want or do not use, such as playgrounds for the rich (i.e. opera houses and art galleries) sports arenas, medical treatment for noncitizens, housing for noncitizens, or education for noncitizens.
People that do not want a border wall will not be forced to pay for one. If the funds to build a border wall are not able to be raised there will be no border wall. If some city, populated by radical leftists, decides that they would be better off without law enforcement, they can defund the police department. Again the public defunding option is the FASTEST way to bring about responsible representation. Agencies that realize there is a possibility they will have no operating funds if the citizens so choose will provide services in a responsible and timely fashion or they will cease to exist.
Our government has ignored the will of the people far too long. It is time to institute the HeinLineback plan and take back America.
Scott Lineback
thank you to Robert A Heinlein