A Proposal for a New Source of Tax Revenue

Citizen's United v. Federal Election Commission opens the door for a lot more political advertisements in upcoming elections.  And there's already a lot.  In 2008, the total cost for US Federal government campaigns was 5.3 Billion dollars.  (roughly half was the Presidential campaign, half for others)  A decent chunk of this is advertising.  For example. President Obama and Senator McCain spent about 20% of their funds, 500 Million, on advertisements.  State contests cost money too.  Here in California, Meg Whitman will spend millions of her own money, and Democrats are responding.

In my opinion, this massive spending, and the fund-raising required to compete in a race, is a corrupting influence.  However, as a vaguely Libertarian, and a firm believer in the Bill of Rights, a lot of this involves Speech, and especially political speech, which should have the highest protection.  So, I'm torn.  (I'd support a reasonable Amendment that corporations are not persons).  But, frankly, my opinion doesn't matter.  Attempts to control this spending have all failed miserably.  If you will, government imposed "price controls" and "regulations" have failed, as they often do.  Let's apply a more traditional government approach, especially in this time of fiscal problems.

Let's tax the heck out of political advertisements.

I'd set a low floor, under which there is no taxation.  Say, $25,000.  So those running for School Board, small town sheriffs, etc. aren't affected.  (I hope, not sure what gets spent on those campaigns!)  Above that, a steeply progressive scale, topping out at 50%.  So, for the big races, for each dollar spent on a political ad, the people get a dollar.  Ads for federal offices would pay taxes to the feds, ads for state office pay the states.

Now, part of me was worried that this just makes the glad-handing and lobbyists more powerful, cause politicians will have to raise twice as much money.  I am no longer concerned.  We already know what the politicians are.  We are just haggling over price.  Let's get a cut of the action.