52 CHARITIES...

     I have no idea how good or even effective such an idea would be, but when I read about the extreme poverty of cocoa farmers around the world, I wondered if they (and other worthy groups) might benefit from a tiny payroll tax levied on, ideally the world, but let's leave it at the level of the United States for now as there is no international authority on Earth which can collect and distribute taxes and and because the United States, acting alone, could create moral pressure on other nations to follow suit.

     I'm using the world's estimated 5 million cocoa farming households as an example because chocolate is a favorite confection to many and knowing the poverty that is not much above slavery that goes into its harvest I would think make them a useful example as to the kind of good this proposed payroll tax could do. It is stated that many of these farmers live in extreme poverty, surviving on less than $1.25 a day (or about $450 a year), so imagine if the estimated 145 million workers in the United States, many of whom most certainly enjoy chocolate candies or chocolate-flavored things or use cocoa butter enriched products, might be called upon to help using but a smidgen of their annual earnings?

    This would be by no means a terribly helpful thing, but again, if other nations might be morally coerced into going along with this, it would help even more. Imagine if a dollar a week, regardless of earnings, were set aside as a withholding for a group of 52 charities, causes, and/or other worthy groups/organizations and donated to a respected United Nations organization to distribute this money directly to those whom it was designed to help.

     52 charities each receiving from the United States 145 million dollars on an annual basis (about 7½ billion dollars total).

     I would think these donations ought to be targeted to low-profile causes as they are almost certainly lacking in strong advocacy. In the case of the aforementioned cocoa farmers, that would mean an annual stipend from the United States of about $29 per household, almost a month's income, paid directly the families.
     I honestly don't know how much of a difference that would make in their lives. I can only imagine myself receiving a month's income for no apparent reason and thinking of how it would affect mine. While such an amount given to me would certainly not be life-changing, it would also not go unnoticed and would certainly prove helpful.

     Assuming this isn't a totally stupid idea, I'm sure you can think of other worthy groups that might receive their share of $145 million dollars. I suppose they could be voted on by the American public. This act of charity does not feel like it should be decided by special-interest-group-influenced politicians.

     I don't know...