What If 1% Could Fund the Entire Government?

What if you never filed a tax return again — no April 15th, no IRS — and a single 1% tax funded the entire government? In this episode of Behind the Story, Jelani Gonzalez sits down with Gary Barnes, a retired tradesman turned author of Fixing America’s Broken Government, for a wide-ranging conversation about the idea he calls the “receiving tax.”Gary spent 45 years as a wallpapering artisan in southwest Connecticut, raising six children while wrestling with a tax code he describes as 12,000 pages of complexity. After the 2008 housing crash and years of watching his own kids struggle to reach the American dream, he set out to design a different way to fund government — one that taxes the movement of money beneath the economy rather than the people producing it.In this conversation, Gary explains how a 1% charge on money changing ownership could, in his telling, replace income, payroll, corporate, capital gains, and inheritance taxes; why he wants to abolish the IRS and route everything through the Treasury; his “nine pillars” model for what government funds and what gets spun off; and his proposals on retirees, property taxes, campaign finance, immigration, and education. Jelani pushes back throughout — on double taxation, on the economists who say the numbers won’t add up, and on the real people whose jobs the plan would eliminate.Whether you agree with Gary or not, it’s a thought-provoking look at taxation, government, and the question of who really holds the power. Gary’s ideas are his own, offered here for discussion, not as financial or policy advice.Learn more about Gary’s work:  Book & grassroots community: https://fixyourgov.com Fixing America’s Broken Government is available in paperback and ebook on Amazon.Subscribe to Behind the Story for more conversations that go beyond the surface.Follow Behind the Story:  Instagram: @behindthestoryshow  TikTok: @behindthestoryshow  X: @behindthestoryshowx Disclaimer: The views expressed by the guest are their own. This conversation is for informational purposes and is not financial, tax, or legal advice.Send us Fan Mail