[Lnc-business] Measure & Report our Government Compliance Costs?

Sat Jul 15 03:10:40 EDT 2017

	I do realize that, thanks to the bloated and many-tentacled State, documenting the party's cost of government compliance could be a significant undertaking. Personally I wouldn't want to do it for my own finances – I don't even balance my own checkbook, which is why I've never run for treasurer!   :-)

	But when I suggested including this in your treasurer's reports Tim, I didn't mean to imply that you should be expected to do all the work yourself. We used to have a formal "assistant secretary" position, and I'd support something similar for treasurer if you felt you needed the help. I also see no reason why you couldn't delegate some or all of the work informally. 

	In another recent message I asked what happened to our intern program (no response yet on that – anyone?). This could be a great job for an intern, as something of this sort would look impressive on a resumé for those who care about such things:

"I calculated the total annual cost of government compliance for an organization with a budget of over $1 million"

	It's also the kind of task that would become easier once it had been done a time or two and such reporting became part of our standard operating procedure. Staff could potentially add to an ongoing tally someplace as bills are paid and hours worked throughout the year, so that there would be little receipt-checking necessary at year-end. Finally, unlike filing with the IRS or something, we don't really need to worry about awful consequences if we get it wrong. We could even add the caveat when publishing that the reported totals represent our "best estimate" and may be somewhat off.

Love & Liberty,

                                   ((( starchild )))
 At-Large Representative, Libertarian National Committee
                        RealReform at earthlink.net
                                (415) 625-FREE
                                  @StarchildSF

On Jul 14, 2017, at 2:17 PM, Tim Hagan wrote:

> Getting an accurate total cost will take a lot of time, and would require going through every receipt. There's nothing that the government doesn't regulate or tax. Some of our expenses are $32,776 Federal & State Taxes and unemployment insurance; $882 property taxes, fees, & permits, $18,000 FEC filing & consulting; Mr. Kraus's time to gather the information for FEC filing; $60,000 budgeted for ballot access; sales taxes on purchases; telephone taxes and surcharges; the portion of attorney fees applicable to the FEC lawsuit and other government-related issues; fees on the escrow account that was required from contribution limits; the portion of payroll service fees that covers withholding, W-2, W-4, and 1099 forms; numerous taxes and fees on travel. I just approve travel reimbursement where the airfare was 14% taxes, fees, and facility charges, and the hotel taxes and fees were 8% of the room charge. Throw in expenses required by building codes and the fire code.  
> 
> To get an idea how enormous of a job this would be because of the enormous size of the governments, try calculating your own annual cost of government. Include federal income tax, FICA, state income tax, state & local sales taxes, property taxes, gasoline taxes, sewer taxes, alcohol taxes, September 11th Security Fee, passenger facility charges, tobacco tax, (telephone) Universal Service Fund Surcharge, FCC Access Charge, Federal telephone excise tax, Universal Energy Charge, local government power fee, time filing out your 1040 form, car registration, driver's license fee, etc.
> 
> Tim Hagan
> 
> From: Starchild <sfdreamer at earthlink.net>
> To: LNC-Business list <lnc-business at lp.org> 
> Cc: Tim Hagan <treasurer at lp.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, July 12, 2017 7:54 PM
> Subject: [Lnc-business] Measure & Report our Government Compliance Costs?
> 
> 
>     I sent this message last week, but inadvertently sent it to the unused LNC-discuss list which my email software sometimes auto-fills in the recipient field rather than to this list, so only Tim Hagan (who was copied on the original) would have received it. Anyway, resending now. What do you think, Tim? Others?
> 
> Love & Liberty,
> 
>                                   ((( starchild )))
> At-Large Representative, Libertarian National Committee
>                       RealReform at earthlink.net
>                                 (415) 625-FREE
>                                   @StarchildSF
> 
> 
> On Jul 4, 2017, at 2:08 AM, Starchild wrote:
> 
> >     It occurs to me it would be useful to publicize the total annual costs of government to the Libertarian Party. When we add up all the time/money spent on ballot access, filing FEC reports, taxes paid on things we buy, etc., how much is it costing us in money, hours, and as a percentage of our budget? Here are some benefits of tracking and reporting this information:
> > 
> > --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > 
> > • Reporting and commenting on the numbers (whether they are up or down, etc.) will make good grist for press releases and blog posts (for instance, when we pass the LP's own version of "Tax Freedom Day" each year)
> > 
> > • The Libertarian Party taking and publicizing this step will encourage other organizations to do likewise
> > 
> > • The more organizations start to measure and report these costs, the more people will be talking and thinking about the costs of government, and the more they do that the more likely they are to reach libertarian conclusions
> > 
> > • Announcement of the annual numbers, and whether they are up or down, would serve as a kind of marketplace signal, and people are generally better off when markets function efficiently by virtue of having good information
> > 
> > • We'll be able to make strategic decisions as needed based on the data (if, for instance, we were spending 90% or more of our revenues on government compliance, it would clearly be time to either give up on the LP as a vehicle to advance freedom, or take an entirely new approach!) 
> > 
> > • Letting government officials know how much their mandates cost organizations like ours will make them more sensitive to increasing that burden* (*Just a little joke to see if you're paying attention – as if they ever care about the harm they cause!)
> > --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > 
> >     Tim, is this information you would be willing/able to include as a special category in your reports as treasurer? Personally I'd be ready to vote to add it to the job description in the Bylaws!
> > 
> > Love & Liberty,
> > 
> >                                      ((( starchild )))
> > At-Large Representative, Libertarian National Committee
> >                          RealReform at earthlink.net
> >                                  (415) 625-FREE
> >                                    @StarchildSF
> 
> 
> 
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