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Community Service Instead of Taxes?



This goes back to a conversation we were having on this site a week or two ago which got buried when the comments close (happens automatically after five days):

What if instead of paying taxes, citizens of a particular jurisdiction donated a portion of their monthly labor hours to community service? This way, from the citizen’s standpoint, they could see exactly where and what their effort goes towards, and they would have a sense of “ownership” within their community, since they would be actively working towards its betterment on a regular basis. Why would a system like this work or not work?







11 Reader Responses

  1. alistair Says:
    May 7th, 2008 at 7:12 am

    because, imho, the government isn`t after an altruistic process in society….they are after our money….so, as much as civic government patronises the community, government at state and federal level goes on about the organic perpetuation of it`s self.

    which it bloody we should, unless it`s suicidal.

  2. Big Elk Says:
    May 7th, 2008 at 10:35 am

    I’m not talking about our current government. I’m talking about hypothetical what if’s in terms of how best to design a governmental system that meets modern needs.

  3. alistair Says:
    May 7th, 2008 at 4:05 pm

    yeah, i gotcha……

    problem is that any type of government, once it hits a certain size, i.e. bigger than a bread-box, becomes organic in it`s own self interest.

    communes, troupes, art communities, soccer clubs etc. all suffer this fate once they hit a boundary of membership.

    garrett hardin in his book filters against folly outlines the number as around 150, above which people are unfamiliar with eachother and need more and more rules and regulations to control the group….therefore necessitatiing administration, policing and enforcement.

  4. Big Elk Says:
    May 7th, 2008 at 7:13 pm

    I’m not really asking if government is a good or bad idea, or if it’s possible to get by without one or any of that stuff. I’m just saying, why couldn’t we do like 10 hours (or whatever) of community service a month instead of paying taxes? Why wouldn’t that work just fine?

    The point I’m simply trying to make here is that things which we take for granted as being necessities or fixed in stone are in fact not: we have as many other options as we can dream up.

  5. Ted Heistman Says:
    May 7th, 2008 at 8:46 pm

    I am hopeful that a lot of these types of ideas may in fact be put to work some day in the developing world. Or maybe a man-made island in the middle of the desert or the Ocean.

    I think there is room for this type of brainstorming to become a reality. I think the developing world will be the New West. Where all the heretics go to build a new life

  6. Ted Heistman Says:
    May 7th, 2008 at 8:49 pm

    Good ideas eventually make therse hereitics rich Tim! You must admit it! Wealth moves West with the freaks.

  7. alistair Says:
    May 8th, 2008 at 8:38 am

    maybe it is the term community service that is the barrier to me understanding your point tim.
    my understanding of c.s. is a political one.
    to do work in the community is great in that it brings people together.
    i coach the boys at the high school in soccer. after thier practice sessions with the team they play pick-up and i join in. it is unstructured and informal, and i`m enjoying the play factor as much as them…..but there is the simple fact that i`m an adult showing them stuff they wouldn`t have access to otherwise and i can deliver it without the formalities of coach/player/teacher modalities.

    attaching what i do to a monitary value would be highly inefficient in that there would have to be an adminstrative process to assess and balance the process that would far outweigh the value of the effort of what i do.

    and besides, governments offer tax incentives to one group while at the same time increasing taxes elsewhere.

    we can`t win that game.

    do the service for the people you are with and for yourself.

  8. Julia Says:
    May 8th, 2008 at 12:55 pm

    The screening and job matching required to make this work in a city would require a whole bureaucracy by itself.

  9. Big Elk Says:
    May 8th, 2008 at 1:07 pm

    and the bureaucracy could be staffed entirely by community service personnel!

  10. Julia Says:
    May 8th, 2008 at 3:52 pm

    and the bureaucracy could be staffed entirely by community service personnel!

    But someone would have to screen them.

  11. Big Elk Says:
    May 9th, 2008 at 10:05 am

    But someone would have to screen them.

    Right and that would be done by community service members!



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