Here's a proposal that I heard put forward by some fellow libertarians, and I think it's something that is non-partisan and something that anyone who is for full transparency in government transactions can get behind. The gist is that there are a lot of people and corporations receiving money from the government, whether it be for transfer payments such as welfare and housing, or for subsidies, tax abatements, and other services. There is already a 1099-Gov issued for those who receive direct payments for services performed, much like any contractor in the private sector, so this would not be an entirely new thing, but an extension of an existing system. The benefits? Well, for one, it would show the people, who, ostensibly, are served by government, just how much value in the form of payments, services, and benefits people and corporations are collecting from taxes. Since this is reported by social security number, it would also quickly expose any person or corporation who is receiving multiple benefits from multiple jurisdictions. It would also expose those collecting benefits (again, people and corporations) who are also reporting significant income from other sources in violation of program rules. There is no reason that this cannot be proposed to other parties. The only people that I think would be against this are politicians, as they'd prefer that we not know just how much is being handed out and to whom nor would they want the embarrassment of the waste in the system being exposed. Once it's done, however, much of that waste would disappear, and the programs would be far more efficient than they are now. Here is the proposal: Thoughts?
I think this is a great start into eliminating a lot of the governmental waste that occurs. More so than that, we can begin looking into areas of improvement and who is receiving more money than they should. Fraud is always an issue and with the vast majority filing taxes every year, it can become cumbersome for the IRS to truly know what money is being received. The only downside I can see from this is more could potentially go 'off-the-books', if you catch my drift. A very real possibility in either scenario. However, more transparency is better than less transparency. I support it.
