FLAIT

I wrote a Letter to the Editor and it was published but edited and changed. Here's the letter in its entirety as original written.

When all is said and done, as much as $5 billion could be spent on the 2016 Presidential and Congressional primary and general election campaigns; more if you add the state and local races. I don't know what's worse. All that money being raised, or the fact that not one single politician wants to do anything about it. And while nothing will be done to address this obscene amount of money flowing into the political process, I had an idea that would benefit the voters: tax all paid campaign advertising. Heavily.

Politicians add extra taxes and add fees to just about everything. So it's about time they tax their livelihood for a change. And I'm not talking about a measly 5 or 10% tax. No. Something a like a 100%, 200% or even a 500% tax on all paid advertising.

While this wouldn't reduce the amount of money PACs, parties and campaigns raise - and would force politicians to raise even more obscene amounts of money - this will still accomplish a number of things: 1) provide new revenue streams for the states and federal government, 2) drastically cut the number of these insulting campaign ads, and 3) force candidates to take part in more debates.

Politicians have created their own system of legalized bribery and corruption. So if they won't do anything about it, then it's only fair to tax the graft they receive on the spending side so the American people can get their cut. And if we get more debates and fewer campaign ads as a result, so much the better.

An even better idea I had regarding campaign financing is within this post.