The state is not an effective, efficient or inexpensive provider of social services. In the initial ‘separation of church and state’, the church was responsible for social programs and tax exempt. The state was responsible for maintaining order and a legal framework to allow the people to conduct their business in a safe and equitable manner. Under an Equity Capitalism system, social programs, with very few exceptions, will be administered by non-profit and charitable organizations. A system, involving ‘volunteer credits’ will be used for tracking, it will be like currency in many ways. Volunteer credits may be earned by anyone and they are used to purchase assistance from social programs. The funding for the service providers will comes from a centralized Social Services Account (SSA), this in turn is funded by the people by way of donations with lucrative tax benefits and if required, the state. People may make direct donations to an individual NPO or charitable group, if they choose.
Non-profits will be responsible for homeless shelters, housing for minimum and low income, access to food and supplies programs, basic services such as facilities for washing, laundry and hygiene, drop-in centers that operate as employment assistance and volunteer coordination, access to public recreational facilities, health and fitness centers, education, training and life skills programs and entertainment.
All service providers registered with the state as part of the Volunteer Credit Program (VCP) will receive funding from the SSA based on their Volunteer Credits (VC) balance. People earn Volunteer Credits by volunteering at the NPOs that are members of the VCP. The state may set up public works projects as part of the VPC. Earned VC are spent at an NPO or other businesses participating in the VCP.
There will be certain parameters placed upon organizations registered with and funded by the VCP. Only 20% of their total funding may be spent on wages and only a third of the staff may by paid. The majority of the staff will be volunteers earning VC. The NPO purpose is somewhat twofold: to provide their service or commodity and serve as a source for VC. The paid NPO staff may be remunerated at better than the levels consistent with their work value in the private sector, to attract experienced, qualified, dedicated professionals.
A simplified example to demonstrate how it works: people in need of assistance would put in volunteer hours, which are credited to their VC account. One hour of volunteering for one VC. An NPO has basic shelter accommodation for cost-plus at 40 VC. Once a person has the 40 VC shelter portion, the next 25 VC earned may be transferred to select prepaid store cards (food, supplies). Any VC earned in excess of 65VC may be transferred to a personal debit card or cash equivalent to the maximum of 80VC available per month. Earned VC are not taxable.
Participation in the VCP is open to everyone, under the same terms and conditions. Participation would not likely be beneficial, maybe even costly, to a person with a well-paid full-time job. For someone between jobs, collecting wage loss, maybe a little part-time but not quite able to come up with their former budget, it would provide an extra cushion of support. If they have shelter, the VC shelter portion may be paid to them, they may choose the disposition of any balance remaining. Volunteer opportunities would be allocated on a greatest need basis.
The registered service providers of the VPC will get funded based on the VC balance. The service provider receives VC for what it supplies. In the example above the NPO receives 40VC per shelter per month. The NPO used volunteers for its labor, say 3VC per unit. They would receive funding equivalent to 37 VC per unit, less any direct funding they received and other extraordinary budget considerations.
Funding for the SSA will mostly come from the people by structuring the tax environment in such a way that if a person desires to accumulate wealth and gain the opportunities to seriously reduce their tax rate, small donations to the SSA will be required every step of the way. With a good accountant, at certain income levels, a person’s after-tax income would be greater with a donation to the SSA than without one. Corporations would find it beneficial as part of their tax strategy and public relations, in that they could donate very large sums, that after-tax consideration cost them much less in real money. The fundamental motivation is to give the people the option of contributing something to the SSA or a paying a large amount in taxes.