Financing A Proper Government - Donations

Private and Corporate Donations:

Today almost 50% (or more) of my hard earned money goes to taxes, be it income tax, sales tax, prohibitive taxes (like on alcohol), land tax, transfer taxes… There are so many and while I could go on, Kelly at “Rant from the Rock” made a list already so I’ll let her help me out with her post… How Much Do You Really Pay In Taxes?

And that is just the “taxation” part, what about all those inefficient bureaucratic “services” that governments at all levels currently provide? How much savings would we see there with market competition and its focus on efficiency replacing monopoly and dogged bureaucracy?

So... In a LFC society I keep ALL of the money I make. What is that worth to me?

Thinking logically I would recognize one thing right off the bat. The lack of taxation in Laissezfaireland means I have 100% of my pay while my counterpart in Welfarestateland is legally robbed of 50% of his. That freedom from state imposed robbery would be quite valuable to me. As a corollary I would also recognize that the only way that I am going to be able to continue to keep all my own money and use it as I see fit is if Laissezfaireland is properly funded and able to defend my rights.

With this fact staring me right in the face I would certainly donate a portion of my disposable income to the maintenance of the state that protects my rights.

Well how much would I be willing to donate?

That would be a personal choice, and individuals would decide when and how on their own, but if each employed person contributed just $1000 the amount generated (using US data from 2005, - median income - 155 million persons over the age of 15 who worked = $28,567.) would be $155,000,000,000. So, with a very small average donation one fifth of the annual operating costs are paid… This does not include any corporate donations and the same logical chain of thought would apply to them.

Now some will likely give more, some unfortunately will give less and a few who are able will shortsightedly give none. The point being that just one of the seven alternatives I had for taxation has already been shown to have the possibility of paying one fifth of the required budget…

NB: For what it’s worth, if I were donating the amount would be much higher than $1000.00, after all that freedom, that proper application of the right to property just doubled my take home pay, saving me about $50,000.00 in a single year.

What would you save?

What would you give?