If I could make a wish come true to make my tax time headaches more tolerable, it is the ability to dictate where my tax money goes after I file my tax return.  I want to be able to use a nice GUI application to swoop in, to see how others have allocated their tax money and where it's lacking, and divide up my tax money into areas where I think more money should be spent.

Concerned about the homeless or unemployment?  Drag and drop part of your tax money to the homeless or economic programs.  Angry about the Iraq War?  Don't spend any money on it.  Want to see more tanks?  Drill down into the army budget and spread your bucks on the armored divisions' purchasing budgets.  You want to reward or punish the job FCC has been doing?  Squeeze their budget until they do what you want.

UI-wise, you can select from a large selection of budget configuration packages from political parties or even influential individuals so you don't have to micromanage the federal budget.  So you would select one or select a few and average to start with and then make fine adjustments on the programs you feel strongly about.

If implemented, the tax I have to pay every year becomes money I have to spend every year.  Why stop there?  If one has the money, why not pre-spend tax one has to spend in the next ten years at once in public programs that I care about and needs funding?  This way, I can pitch in hundreds of thousands instead of few thousands at once, superboosting cruicial programs and increasing the chance of seeing some good results early.

Instead of voting on politicians, judges, and policies, direct budgetting allows us to vote with our tax dollars.  Whether the system will work in real life or not, the vision is definitely a satisfying one.  If successful, politicians will be on their knees begging for money for their favorite program as April 15th nears each year.  Who knows?  Maybe everyone will act responsibly.  If you like this idea, just drag-n-drop some donations to the Don Park's Daily Needs box.