Interesting Tax Idea From Australia

[fredtoast]

I agree with Bels, that the presentation would be fraught with the problems of political influence, but I think it would be worth a try. They would just have to argue and hammer out a basic format then agree not to change the it every time a different party took control.

Some of the things that make it tricky.

--A lot of "foreign aid" is actually a form of "military spending".

--There is a difference between the Social Security benefits I have paid for all my life and "welfare", but the line can be murky.

--Through some sort of accounting magic the Federal Reserve actually gives the federal government back the interest it pays on the Federal deficit.

But overall I think it would be an valuable way to educate even the lesser educated on how the government spends their money.