Ideas For Democracy:  Goal #7

Require that all expenditures of tax funds be identified by amount and purpose. No taxation without accountability.

 

Citizens who want real democracy will actively support this policy and vote for trustworthy candidates who actively support this policy.

 

IFD - policy:  The American colonists protested against the distant and oppressive rule of a king and they shouted:  "No taxation without representation!"  Well, what about taxation without accountability?  That means the people pay taxes to fund the government, and the government spends the money secretly.  The people who pay for everything are not allowed to know how the money is being spent.  Does not sound like democracy, does it.  But over time since the populace approved the Constitution, we have developed more and more elaborate concepts of state secrets, intelligence services, and "black" operations.  The black meaning dark, like night, when the operations are performed, and dark, meaning secret and unknown, not something we want others to know we have done.  But is that consistent with democratic government?  What would we do, what could we say, if the citizens of another country said that our armed forces killed thousands of civilians when our two countries are supposed to be in a state of peace and cooperation?   Can we respond that we did not know this was happening?  How could we not know?  Why did we create a government that acted without our knowledge and approval?  That is not democracy.

 

So, how much, what percentage of tax funds are to be spent secretly?  What is the legitimate extent of state secrets and clandestine military operations?  These questions must be the subject of a legitimate ongoing discussion in a democratic society.  We can endeavor to give fair consideration to the need for clandestine operations, but we need to pursue the ideal, as best as we can, of no taxation without accountability.  If we really want a real democracy, our government has to be accountable, and that means that ALL expenditures of tax funds must be given an accounting title.  The principle that we want to implement in our exploration of "no taxation without accountability" is that clandestine operations must not place the American people in a position where our government is doing something that we would not approve.  Further, if our government is doing something that we would want to know about, or which would add important information to our understanding of who and what we are, then that is sufficient to establish our "need to know" basis for that type of expense to be made known to the public paying for it.  That would include expenses where the government hires or pays a private business entity or consultant.  Hiring others to do something that the government wants done must not be permitted as a means of escape from financial accountability to the people.