It seems like a good idea to me on many levels, as it allows workers to take home more of their hard-earned dollars, plus it would deprive the federal government of revenue and encourage shrinking of the federal government. Alabama has introduced a similar policy.

Another version of this idea would be to require employers to pay all taxes on over-time, rather then deducting it from an employee’s paycheck. This would further discourage the practice of overtime and create more jobs at higher wages, which might actually be a better public policy.

That said, I do like the idea of a radically simpler and smaller federal government. I don’t think the US Military does much for me, nor do most federal government agencies. What exactly does the military even do, besides provide some vague notion of public safety from foreign threats?

I can’t think of the last time I saw a FBI agent or even a federal employee. Maybe a Forest Service worker in National Forest, but beyond that it’s hard to even imagine the federal government exists beyond the television and the big chunk of money they take out of my paycheck. So maybe it’s time to move a lot of federal employees to the private sector.