This is your chance to support Mio. Support a hometown tax.

by **Turtleneck** 2017-01-11, 22:10

Japan has a hometown tax. The basic idea is this: taxpayers can earmark a portion of their taxes to be set aside for their hometown. The problem is you do not actually need to earmark your taxes for your actual hometown, and that has led to bribery through beef and beer.

Want a free case of craft beer? If you send 30,000 yen ($260) or more of your taxes to the town of Yamanouchi in Nagano prefecture, they’ll send you 24 bottles of a locally brewed beer to say thanks.

Want beef? Redirect 50,000 yen of your local area taxes to Miyakonojo in Miyazaki, and you’ll get 3 kilograms (6.6 pounds) of high-grade beef in return.

This Furusato Nozei (Hometown Tax) system began in 2008 as a way for people to channel part of their taxes to help rural areas struggling with falling populations and shrinking revenues. But its popularity isn’t driven by altruism or nostalgia for the countryside. Belying the program’s name, money can be sent anywhere, and much of it is going to places that offer local produce as gifts in return.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-01-09/japan-s-rural-towns-are-luring-tax-from-tokyo-with-beef-and-beer?cmpid=socialflow-twitter-business&utm_content=business&utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social

All joking aside, would you support something similar in the U.S.? Many rural areas are struggling. As the country continues to urbanize, rural areas will continue to lose people and economic productivity will continue to decline.

by AnomanderRake 2017-01-11, 23:13

I think it's a neat idea, people are always bitching about not having any influence on how their tax dollars are spent.

If our government and elected officials weren't completely incompetent, I would say this could end up being an inefficient use of tax dollars. However, given that they are incompetent, a program like this would limit the funding available to the federal and state governments, instead allocating it to local government. Sounds like that could be a win to me, the federal and state governments piss enough of our money away as it is. Bonus benefit, we have more influence over our local officials too since we can show up at their house with pitchforks.

by **xsanguine** 2017-01-11, 23:18

What if you were told a certain percentage that you had to be taxed on... but were allowed to determine where you want those taxes to go? 100% of your taxes determined by you where they go.

by AnomanderRake 2017-01-11, 23:23

xsanguine wrote:What if you were told a certain percentage that you had to be taxed on... but were allowed to determine where you want those taxes to go? 100% of your taxes determined by you where they go.

The entire population as a collective is pretty fucking stupid X. Letting people decide 100% how to allocate their taxes would be a disaster lol.

I for one would like to donate all of my tax dollars to the Michigan State University football team. Shit with our huge alumni base we could probably buy a lot of 5 star recruits.

by **xsanguine** 2017-01-11, 23:28

AnomanderRake wrote:
xsanguine wrote:What if you were told a certain percentage that you had to be taxed on... but were allowed to determine where you want those taxes to go? 100% of your taxes determined by you where they go.

The entire population as a collective is pretty fucking stupid X. Letting people decide 100% how to allocate their taxes would be a disaster lol.

I for one would like to donate all of my tax dollars to the Michigan State University football team. Shit with our huge alumni base we could probably buy a lot of 5 star recruits.

It wouldn't be a free for all. There'd be probably 50 boxes you could enter in a percentage of that flat percentage (or however they'd determine it by income). So if you're in the 28% tax bracket you choose whatever the choices are. It'd probably be pretty general so it's not like you could completely mitigate nefarious choices on the part of politicians.

I dunno, the concept just got me thinkun.

by **Turtleneck** 2017-01-11, 23:30

AnomanderRake wrote:I think it's a neat idea, people are always bitching about not having any influence on how their tax dollars are spent.

If our government and elected officials weren't completely incompetent, I would say this could end up being an inefficient use of tax dollars. However, given that they are incompetent, a program like this would limit the funding available to the federal and state governments, instead allocating it to local government. Sounds like that could be a win to me, the federal and state governments piss enough of our money away as it is. Bonus benefit, we have more influence over our local officials too since we can show up at their house with pitchforks.

Exactly. Local officials are on the front lines of almost every issue. As Bloomberg once said, "Presidents pontificate and mayors pick up the garbage." It is at the local level that democracy is truly experienced, and since federal and state officials are increasingly inept, we would probably be better off bolstering local governments.

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Re: This is your chance to support Mio. Support a hometown tax.