Ticking Off the Government

A Guide for the Perplexed Taxpayer

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Americans’ confidence in major U.S. institutions remains near the lowest level Gallup has recorded in more than four decades, averaging less than 30% for the fifth consecutive year.
— Gallup Poll 7/13/26

No shit Dick Tracy, one might well respond.

This is what they mean by Institutions:

The only net positive opinion is for the US Military (61% are confident in it, why I don’t know). Congress occupies the bottom of the barrel at a miserable 9%, with SCOTUS and POTUS in a dead heat at a whopping 27%. There’s lots to discuss here about what’s been breaking down, but for now let’s just focus on the Federal Government — if only because we pay its members, who presumably work for us.

We all know by now — especially since the Citizens United decision of 2010 — that money rules politics. That gratuitous SCOTUS ruling let big money overflow campaign coffers, serving to insulate Congress from public opinion. Instead it responds to lobbyists and Trump’s infantile desires. There are manifest societal and environmental damages from cutting funds for things like SNAP, Medicaid, the EPA, CDC, and USAID, yet Congress fails to take action. What can be done, then?

Suppose US taxpayers were allowed to direct how their tax money is spent? When they file their 1040s, taxpayers would be given a choice of which governmental units they wish to fund, the top three being Congress, the Executive, and Federal courts. The Executive, in particular, is quite a big ball of wax, with its 15 cabinet-level departments, each overflowing with agencies. Beyond these are independent agencies created by Congress. Each one has to prepare a budget request every fiscal year. Wikipedia breaks down these indies like so:

• Independent agencies, tribunals, and government-owned corporations (17 categories, 17 entities plus dozens of sub-entities). These include administrations, agencies, boards, bureaus, centers, commissions, councils, funds, institutes, inspectors, offices, services, systems and a bunch of other bodies.
• Joint programs and interagency agencies (1 category, 9 entities)
• Special Inspector General Office (1 type, 1 entity)
• Quasi-official organizations (7 types, 34 enities)

Among them are the CIA, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Director of National Intelligence, Federal Reserve System, Federal Trade Commission, General Services Administration, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and Federal Election Commission, to name some of the biggies.

That most people are only dimly aware of what these bodies do shouldn’t stand in the way of targeting our taxes. Still, it would make sense for the default to be No Preference and let the federal budget divvy up our dollars. But, rather than making taxpayers choose which to support, let them exclude units of government they care not to fund. 

At the top level are the three branches of government plus the all-important “investigative” branch, and those independent agencies:

• Executive
• Legislative
• Judicial
• Inspector General
• Independent Agencies

To begin with, the executive branch has 15 cabinet-level departments:

• Department of Agriculture (USDA)
• Department of Commerce
• Department of Defense
• Department of Education
• Department of Energy
• Department of Health and Human Services
• Department of Homeland Security
• Department of Housing and Urban Development
• Department of Interior
• Department of Justice
• Department of Labor
• Department of State
• Department of Transportation
• Department of Treasury
• Department of Veterans Affairs

Which to deselect? Presumably they all do some useful things. But under current circumstances, I personally would choose not to fund Homeland Security, Defense, and Justice. Conversely, I wouldn’t under-fund our besieged US Postal Service, National Institutes of Health, or National Science Foundation.

Next, the US Congress also has a bunch of offices, including several I’ve never heard of:

• Congressional Budget Office (CBO)
• Government Accountability Office (GAO)
• Government Publishing Office (USGPO)
• Office of Congressional Accessibility Services (OCAS)
• Office of the Attending Physician (OAP)
• Office of Congressional Workplace Rights (OCWR)
• Office of Congressional Conduct (OCC)
• Congressional Office for International Leadership
• John C. Stennis Center for Public Service Training and Development
• Capitol Police Board, which governs the United States Capitol Police (USCP)
• Architect of the Capitol (AOC — but not that AOC)

I find the first three worthy of support. The rest can take their chances, but pick and choose as you will. Play anarchist.

Most of the Judicial Branch consists of courts declared in Article III of the Constitution, but some have gotten tacked on:

• Supreme Court of the United States
• United States Courts of Appeals
• United States District Courts
• United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation
• United States Court of International Trade
• United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court
• United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review
• United States Alien Terrorist Removal Court

Half of these are involved in domestic, the others international affairs. But, lest we forget, there are also departments for court and probation administration, a General Counsel, defender services, and public and legislative affairs offices. I personally would tick away any courts having to do with (highly overblown) surveillance or terrorism.

Finally, there are three dozen “Quasi-Official” federal thingies listed by Wikipedia. Did you know our federal establishment includes these gems?

• AbilityOne Commission
• Corporation for Travel Promotion
• Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board
• Millennium Challenge Corporation
• National Futures Association
• North American Electric Reliability Corporation
• U.S. Civilian Research & Development Foundation
• U.S. Steel Corporation

Why is US Steel a government body, you might ask. Because in order to acquire it, Nippon Steel had to bow to Trump’s demands that the US Government receive a “golden share” that gives it appointment and veto power. Wanna bet Trump got a cut of it?

Asking taxpayers to allocate their payments seems like a surreal prospect, but we do something like this when formulating our wills. Just think of the US Government as an incredibly complicated estate with a ton of beneficiaries. Would you want shares of yours to go to your MAGA sister or your slacker son who cut you off when it could fund Doctors Without Borders or your local NPR/PBS station? 

Of course none of this tax allocation stuff is practical without expert advice. So until financial consultants gear up to advise you for a cut of your taxes, just tell your local chatbot what your tax allocation goals are and let it do the heavy lifting.

As part-owners of the federal government we should be able to exercise our proxies.

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