The way I (not the previous poster) envision this working is not that you can opt out of taxes, but you can skip certain items.
So I don't pay Israel's defense budget, but that money is reallocated evenly to everything else.
I find it hard to believe a meaningful number of people would opt out of libraries and schools assuming their overall tax burden is unchanged.
This sounds like a good way to accidentally create an industry of reverse lobbyists where the government contracts them to convince tax payers to allocate money to their department.
I might be too pessimistic though, I tend towards liking the idea but I'm concerned about the changes it could cause.
Re:Buy, Borrow, Die – Explained
by throwaway48476 on Sunday September 01, 2024 @12:31PM
(#41418192)
That already happens. Why else would Northrop advertise a stealth jet at the superbowl.
if they vote against a tax levy for a school they will most definitely vote to send the money elsewhere.
Empty nesters or childless people will funnel their tax money to things like parks, fire trucks, and other things.
Re:Buy, Borrow, Die – Explained
by Robin_Message on Sunday September 01, 2024 @05:16AM
(#41415432)
Hypothecated taxes are an anti-pattern, for precisely this reason. Setting the budget and setting the taxes should be somewhat separated (but not too separated!)
A few counties away, the library district said without a tax increase, they’ll have to shut down. “No new taxes” carried the day. Library shut down. Now folks are howling. And again it’s the non-voting kids that suffer.
If this is the behavior of folks about issues affecting their neighbors, in their own town, I’m not too optimistic what sort of support we could see for any kind of longer-term issue, especially if it isn’t atop the media cycle.