The federal government is running a humongous deficit but politicians don’t want to raise taxes or cut services since that would be unpopular. Here are a few of my ideas for new sources of revenue for the government.
- Legalize Marijuana- And then tax it. The government is already making money off tobacco and alcohol it might as well make money from marijuana also. This should also result in a large savings for law enforcement since they would no longer have to expend money to enforce the marijuana laws. If legalizing marijuana worked then legalizing more drugs could be considered.
- Legalize Prostitution- And then tax it. They would need to come up with a workable system for this. The Nevada system with the brothels taking 50% of the prostitute’s income is not a good model. The prostitute should be the only way making money off her(or his) work, except the government of course. This also should result in savings for law enforcement.
- Legalize Internet Gambling- And then tax it. People are doing it anyway the government might as well make some money from it. So far my ideas have all been about legalizing vices and thus moving money from the underground economy to the tax coffers. I have a couple ideas that don’t involve vices too.
- Put Advertisements on Money- Just replace the back of a bill with an ad and the government would have a large source of revenue. Alternatively, they could also replace the $1 and $5 bills with coins and eliminate the penny. That would not be too radical though and it would save money rather than generate revenue.
- Sell Naming rights to public sites- Professional sports teams make big money selling naming rights to their stadiums. The federal government could cash in on this too. Perhaps they could have the Washington(Mutual) Monument or the U.S. Capitol(One) building. I’m sure you can come up with better examples than that.
As you might guess I’m not entirely serious about these ideas but I do believe there are some sources of revenue out there that the government has yet to tap.
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Check out”happy endings” a doc film on Asian massage parlors in RI where prostitution is legal. RI is letting tons of money go but not taxing it, and RI is in the biggest economic crisis of all the 50 states. Sign up on the website to get updates on the release.
http://www.happyendingsdoc.com
Comment edited to remove excessive links.
I didn’t know prostitution was legal in RI. I’ll check out the documentary when I have time.
Ads on money… oh gosh. That would be terrible, but can you imagine? “This dollar brought to you by H&R Block.”
lol I thought those ideas were hilarious (even if they were not sapposed to be). Very creative if you came up with them yourself. Some of those ideas might not be half bad.
Good heavens!! You’ll have to start looking ahead to your career some time soon. Legalize drugs and prostitution? You can’t give away all that lucrative work representing the drug lords and pimps! How are you going to make any money?
Sam & Ashley- Some of these ideas are supposed to be jokes although they would probably work.
Gord- I don’t plan on doing criminal defense unless I become a public defender. Uncle Sam would become the drug lord and pimp. Maybe I could make some money in the legalization process.