I've come up with a sincere, creative solution to create jobs, create revenue, stimulate the economy, and rebuild our infrastructure, all without raising taxes.
I often hear Republicans and those representing the wealthiest among us say that taxing the rich does not stimulate job growth. That we can't "spend our way out of a recession." Well, I have come up with a real solution that combines a little bit of 21st century ingenuity and a little common sense to make sure that you can a) frame the jobsdebate in a way that is undebatable and b) get what you want in terms of revenues from the rich and job creation.
The idea is borrowed from a fundraising model that works quite well for grassroots nonprofits and NGO's. The concept is fairly simple- using social media and the internet, the nonprofit or organization posts a list of projects that need funding. They include details about the project, reasons for donating, and make it simple to do so. The donor can then visit the website and select exactly which project they want to fund, based on their interests and motivation. It's playing into the human mindset of giving but maintaining control.
SO, here's what you do:
1) Set up a website with pre-selected projects around the country that need to be built. Infrastructure projects, school revitalization, clean energy implementation,disaster relief efforts, whatever. Make a sleek website where people can view each project by area, interest, and other parameters. Do not let special interests decide which projects you select, your economics team or job creation taskforce chooses them, period. Make sure the projects are geographically spread out and do not tilt in favor of any socioeconomic group.
2) For each project, list the details of the project, the budget needed to complete the project, and exactly how many people the project will put to work. IE "Trinity River Bridge Project- $150 Million needed, 1000 Jobs Will Be Created". Keep a visible running tally of how much has been raised and once it reaches 100%, the project commences.
3) Guarantee that every dollar donated goes directly towards the selected project,putting people to work in these projects. Offer periodic reports on project progress to donors.
4) HERE'S WHERE IT GETS INTERESTING:
People earning over $250,000 a year can choose to, instead of paying additional taxes on their income above $250k, maintain their current tax rate and select and donate a percentage of that income (lower than the effective tax rate) to the jobs creation project of their choice. This way, they know that their money isn't going to some "Uncle Sam spending fund" but instead, directly to job creation. This will play into several human emotions: A) a sense of control b) a sense of ownership c) a sense of pride.
5) Offer incentives for people earning over $250k to donate to the job creation project of their choice. For example, say you can either be taxed at x% for your income over $250k, or you can donate to a jobs creation project of your choice online and avoid paying the higher tax rate altogether. (Thus decreasing the amount of taxes they pay on their overall income as well).
Now, you've solved everything all in one fell swoop. You've managed to create jobs without raising taxes, you've raised revenues, you've managed to help rebuild our infrastructure, and you've appeased the right, you've appeased the left.
It's the 21st century and it's time to get creative. We don't need trickle down economics, and we don't need socialist economics either. I call it social ownership economics and if you're smart, you'll call it part of your jobs bill.