Bond. Project Bond

Taxation has many negative connotations, including its involuntary nature and the perception of inefficient and wasteful spending. And of course, the feeling, for most of us, our money is not being spent on our priorities.

Much has also been made recently of the "Buffett Rule", with critics often pointing out that those who feel under- taxed are free to pay more, with the US House passing a symbolic resolution to that effect just days ago. But as we all know, few are likely to take advantage of this opportunity, for all the reasons listed in the first paragraph.

The governments ability for raising money for specific projects via bonds, be it for war or construction purposes has always existed, of course. But it seems to me that crowdfunding would be a much more efficient method to achieve the same goal, allowing project backers to streamline marketing and fundraising, and perhaps even privatization where appropriate, so that rather than debt you might receive equity (finally, you can get a piece of that Brooklyn Bridge -- just send in some bucks for that restoration).

Accredited projects with tax authority approvals would count towards your overall tax burden, but the notion of paying for things that you are actually interested in, and a sense of ownership that comes with it, might actually encourage people to spend beyond their minimal obligations.