I have what I think is a very good idea.
Basically what if the government said to the taxpayer that some percentage of the income tax they pay ( say 1% for now ) must be given to a charity of their choice rather than the 1% going to the federal govt.
This way the taxpayer would get to choose the charity. I believe most people would then pick efficient charities that means something special to them. The choice of charity would be made private ( to prevent charities from using quid pro quo to force us to give to a particular charity ).
I think this would be an exteremly efficient way of spending tax dollars. The problem I think is many high income earners such as myself are very skeptical of paying higher taxes, not because we hate paying taxes, or are greedy, uncaring individuals, it is because we think the government wastes the tax dollars on lobbyists and that the govt is very inefficient at using the tax dollars.
What do you people think ? Are there any countries that use such a method currently ? How probable would it be to convince the politicians to put this idea into play ?
Thank You.