Modeling Journey

Polls show that voters do not think the Tories or the Liberals (parties and leaders) are in touch with them. One way to ensure that a Liberal government stays in touch with voters is to give voters a bigger say in how the federal government will spend its budget revenue.

This could be done by introducing a new feature in the first Liberal budget, which I call the "I Choose" option. Every taxpayer is given the chance to tick off on their annual tax forms 3 of 7 areas where a portion of their personal taxes will be directed. In essence, taxpayers will be able to target some of their own taxes at specific recipients.

This is similar to the choice model used by the United Way, to allow donors to direct their charitable donations to areas of spending of their own choice. This choice model makes donating a much more personal matter, and is very popular.

The choice model used by the I Choose option in the Liberal budget will direct the government to spend 5% of the taxpayers taxes paid in that year to the top 3 of 7 choices indicated on the taxpayer's tax form.

The 7 Targeted Taxes areas will be set by the Liberal government. The government will retain the right to select 4 of these 7 areas, but it will undertake to poll Canadians once a year to determine which of 20 areas set out by the government (after receiving advice from a Citizen's Council made up of ordinary Canadians and others nominated by the government) are to be selected for the remaining 3 areas.

Those 3 areas getting the highest percentage votes will then appear on that year's I Choose segment of the tax form.

Some suggestions for the first list of 7 targeted tax areas are:

• Social housing
• Scholarships for high school children and college students
• Grants to fund small energy conservation companies so as to put Canada in the forefront of the new 'green' industries.

Five percent of the taxpayer's taxes will be directed to these Targeted Tax areas through the I Choose model. To start off, the Liberal government could cap the total dollars used for Targeted Taxes at, say, $5 billion in the first year, and consider an appropriate increased cap for later years. Taxpayer choices will direct the spending of, say, 60% of this cap on the top 3 choices, with the balance being allocated to the other 4 areas as the government decides. Of course, the total funding of these 7 areas will not be done just through the Targeted Tax model; areas which need more will be funded through the normal budget process.

Why adopt the Targeted Tax option? To give Canadians a greater say in their country's affairs, and to make sure that the government's priorities stay in touch with the priorities of most Canadians.

Tax changes such as this would help Michael Ignatieff overcome the perception Canadians have that he is a business-as-usual politician, as Liberal internal polls have shown.