Or a tax on natural resources, extracted from America. Instead of a few people owning the mineral rights to everything underneath the country, you make America

Or a tax on natural resources, extracted from America. Instead of a few people owning the mineral rights to everything underneath the country, you make American oil, coal, natural gas, sunlight, wind, nuclear energy something the people own. It's something that already happens in part of America, and it works in Europe. Supplement it with a VAT on luxury items above a certain threshold (yachts, jewelry, property) and a sin tax against sugar and other drugs. Cap it off by replacing agriculture subsidies with the tax break + a "heath discount" on the purchase end of the transaction. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Permanent_Fund https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Permanent_Fund https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_Pension_Fund_of_Norway https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_Pension_Fund_of_Nor... I would even advocate taking it a step further, and replacing HSA's and Social Security with individual savings accounts, a la Singapore. Approved purchases (up to a certain amount of rent, food stamps like foods, medical expenses) qualify for tax free or subsidized purchase (this is mostly psychological, giving people a "discount" vs depositing more money in their account, but it can also steer their behavior.) The government invests a certain amount in each person, and then they can contribute an additional amount from payroll. Segregate the money into two tiers, allow money in the "long term" side of the account to grow through some kind of investment, but minimize or eliminate the choice of how it is invested. Cap per year spending on everything except medical. Make it closer to a CD than SP500 investment. Everybody gets the same glide, per a single factor such as age or retirement date. Returns are guaranteed. Allow certain penalized/taxed hardship withdrawls. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Provident_Fund https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Provident_Fund Plan: America First Sovereign Fund (mineral/luxury/sin tax), deposits into Forced Savings Account at USPS, which includes a tiered account that subtracts the qualifying part of a purchase from Savings Account, the rest gets charged to a Debit/Credit card on file. Allow the reverse, where Chase, WF, BoA, Citi can link their cards to your Savings Account, and automatically deduct qualifying purchases from it. Allow opt in for digital receipt tracking, or receipt scanning a la expensify, so you don't have to maintain records of purchases for disputes. If you use your bank card, you control what records are forwarded and stored in your USPS account. This does five things. It pays for the program. It gives everybody some individual responsibility to manage their account, while helping them save. It steers their purchases towards healthy. It gives everyone access to a public bank account that is tax exempt. It lets them not have to manage multiple swipes at the register. Finally, I'd advocate for a hybrid FTC/AG managed consumer protection service. Sort of a Consumer Reports / Wirecutter service on steroids that's easy for everyone to track their purchases, warranties, and to comparison shop with. A single place for product recalls, safety warnings, price comparisons, and information regarding what the best purchase to make is.