[quote=flu]
Don’t disagree with the need? But again $1billion???
How about just taking attaching it to a tax return? I’m a subscriber to “no representation without taxation” 🙂 And yes, that means everyone has to file, even those that don’t need to pay. Also, do you count folks that are illegal? We have rules about citizenship/PR tests, about basic english skills, or is that not necessary anymore?
[/quote]
Well, I recall Democrats wanted to use statistic sampling for the census back in the 90s, which would have been much less expensive and more accurate. However, Republicans complained that it was undemocratic and insisted on “physically counting everyone”. In reality it was all about who gets counted etc. Dems wanted minorities, who tend to be less responsive to phone calls to be better represented, which surprise surprise strengthens their position. Repubs, on the other hand, fear over representation of “illegals” and which coincidentally is not their base constituants. Even accounting for massive Govt waste, I suspect that if the statistical approach was used the census would cost much less than 1 billion.
Slightly OT but this parallels the argument for broader voter registration vs. voter fraud argument between the two parties. Dems lean towards broader representation at the cost of a few fraud/mistakes. Repubs are weary of any fraud/mistake even if means more people who are eligible actually voted.
