No Taxation without Information
From Sunshine Review
No taxation without information expresses the idea that the business of running the government must be open at all levels to effective public scrutiny.
Advocates of this view believe:
- Without such openness, citizens can't effectively hold politicians and public officials accountable.
- Without effective accountability safeguards, the level of waste and fraud at the local, state and federal levels of government is much higher than it would otherwise be.
- When citizens honor their obligations by paying taxes, but politicans and public officials don't honor their obligations to disclose the people's business to the citizenry in a full, transparency and forthcoming way, a fundamental asymmetry develops that tears at the fabric of the public trust.
The Sam Adams Alliance is launching a No Taxation without Information campaign in July 2008. Components of the campaign include:
