Let taxpayers decide how they want their money spent

You now have about three weeks to get your taxes filed and answer all those questions, and of course the reason for all those questions is simple: to insure the tax system is fair.

And yet what do we see in the latest Pew research poll? Fifty-nine percent of the American people consider the system deeply flawed.

And I think I know why people feel that way.

We are asked in great detail how we got our money, and we are told with great precision how much we owe, but there is not one single question on that tax return asking us how we want our money spent.

OK, there’s one: Do you want to give $3 to the presidential campaign fund?

In other words, “Can we use some of your money to help some candidate buy obnoxious ads?”

Well, thanks for asking.

But who really gets to decide? The 58 members of the House and Senate Budget Committees. The people who met for two days last week to start deciding how to spend $3.5 trillion.

And what did I hear again and again? “That the majority of American people support reform,” and, “I want you to be arguing on behalf of the American people.”

Well if they really mean that, let us tell them. Right there on the tax return, after you find out how much you owe, you could specify, as part of your return – how much should go to education, or to public housing, or to defense – and just go down the list.

The data would be collected and sent to Congress, so that the next time someone says, “It has the broad support of American people”; they would know exactly how much how support – to the penny.

And they wouldn’t have to consult a single lobbyist.