4 ms·
In the US, you can give extra money to reduce the deficit. You cannot redirect what you already owe so that it all goes towards reducing the deficit. So I thin
by siftrics 3y ago
In the US, you can give extra money to reduce the deficit. You cannot redirect what you already owe so that it all goes towards reducing the deficit.
So I think your point "nonono, I didn’t mean to pay down the debt with my money!" is moot.
- amalcon 3y agoThat sort of direction wouldn't be meaningful anyway, since money is fungible.
- jonhohle 3y agoIt’s not like money that was previously allocated for debt service could then be moved to something else. In AZ we can direct about $4k to specific organizations and receive a 1:1 tax credit. That impacts revenues, but not how much those programs would receive otherwise.
- amalcon 3y agoThey could obviously just issue new debt, though.
- siftrics 3y agoYou can make tax-deductible donations to certain organizations. This results in them getting more funding than they otherwise would. Sure, redirections may not modify the budget of the US government programs directly, but it does have meaningful impact on the world.
- digging 3y agoIt would be if federal budgets were determined by the allocations people indicated on their tax filings. But that would be a mess if unrestricted.