• Justin Peterson
    54
    Basic Concept:
    -Everybody is held accountable for the services they use, And the damages their products might cause.
    -Likewise, There are tax write-offs that can be utilized in exchange for community service.

    Under this system of accountability, Corporations would be held liable for any damages that could be caused as a result of the business practices. A monetary amount would be set in which case the corporations would be required to mitigate the damage caused, Through action or research. Of course, Contracts can be used to ensure the protection of markets such as pharmaceuticals, Where the consumer is aware of any risks. For companies such as Monsanto, However, They would be held accountable for paying for the damages to the environment or consumer health. Likewise, Oil and gas companies would be required to research ways to use gas more efficiently, Develop cleaner technologies, Filter the air, Etc.
    In terms of the citizens, There would be fees associated with any government enterprise that is to be used. For example, There would be fees spread amongst all licensed drivers to account for any damages caused by basic wear and tear. The same can be said about many other services such as Health Insurance, Water and heating (in which case as a consumer they would share a portion of the fees associated with damage to the environment), Etc.
    The government would ultimately create a market for these services and would contract the services out to private businesses (Because anything run by the gvt. Is just awful and inefficient).
    While it's true that what citizens pay in taxes are less likely to go down, Ultimately they are unaffected by services which they do not use, Suffice it to say also that we'd be paying insurance companies for things such as police and firefighting services, But under this system the gvt. Wouldn't be held liable for things such as what happened in Flint, Because it would ultimately be the responsibility of the Civil Engineering company that they contracted to make the repairs and mitigate the damages.
    Apart from this, There would be fee and tax write-offs set in place for community service to reduce the fees and costs of these services. Ideally, You can get out of paying any taxes at all, So long as you have enough community service(which of course is subjective to the community service).
    Ultimately, The only Federal taxes that would be imposed are for military expenditures, Federal debt pay-offs, Judicial courts, And bankruptcy protection (For companies that cannot sustain themselves given their profit to damage ratios, To cover leftover expenses after bankruptcy).

    Cons
    -Companies would rise and fall, A substantial decrease in job security
    -Hard to put a correct monetary estimate on some damages
    -Substantial increase in insurance rates
    -Can we trust private organizations to be in charge of governing the police?
    -Companies are more likely to use damage fees to support profitable research rather than taking action
    -Hard to pinpoint the exact causes of some damages(such as cancer/health damages, Psychological damage, Etc. )

    Pros
    -People pay taxes only on things that benefit them
    -Much easier to start a small scale business, Almost puts a threshold on how big businesses or corporations can become
    -Government plays a much smaller role in civilian life
    -Corporations are more cautious about their products and the irreparable damages they might cause

    These are just the pros and cons that I could come up with. I understand that this system of government would not work unless it was finely tuned, And probably would only work well given major technological advances. Regardless, Use this as a thought experiment if you may and tell me why it may or may not be a better system than what we are currently using in America today.
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