Will Hampton

Author of Good Government Files. Ex CommsDir @roundrock. @UTJschool grad. @3CMA Communicator of the Year

[Will Hampton @willhampton]

https://t.co/GrZLfQGbL2

Today, I launched a newsletter focused on local government done right. Good Government Files aims to be the Ted Lasso of political Substack. Tune in weekly to feel better about the fate of humanity as you go about the noble work of effective governance.

[Will Hampton @willhampton]

@BridgetPhetasy @davereaboi @MaxNordau

[Handre @Handre]

Milton Friedman's greatest regret.

The federal government discovered the perfect crime in 1943: make employers collect taxes before workers ever see their paychecks. You think you earn $60,000 per year, but you actually earn $75,000 and hand over $15,000 to politicians without ever touching it. The psychological difference is enormous.

Before payroll withholding, Americans wrote quarterly checks directly to the Treasury. Picture yourself sitting at your kitchen table, writing a $3,750 check to the IRS every three months. The pain was immediate and visceral. Politicians faced constant pressure to justify every dollar because citizens felt the extraction in real time.

Withholding transforms this concrete loss into an abstract accounting entry. Your employer becomes an unpaid tax collector, and you never experience the actual cost of government. Worse, most people celebrate their tax refunds as government generosity rather than recognizing them as interest-free loans they provided to politicians. The Treasury collects your money throughout the year, spends it immediately, then returns your own cash and receives gratitude.

This system enables the explosion in government spending you witness today. Defense contractors billing $640 for toilet seats, agricultural subsidies for corn syrup, and congressional salaries for 535 people who rarely show up to work. When taxation feels painless, voters stop demanding accountability for how their money gets spent.

Milton Friedman helped design withholding as a wartime emergency measure and later called it his greatest regret. Free market economists recognized that the psychological pain of direct taxation creates political pressure for fiscal restraint. The temporary always becomes permanent in government hands, and the emergency justification disappears while the extraction mechanism remains forever.

[Will Hampton @willhampton]

@byBDavis Used to think the same thing when Ralph Sampson forgot he played in the low post.

[Will Hampton @willhampton]

@JonahDispatch He will be missed. May his memory be eternal.

[Will Hampton @willhampton]

@whignewtons I weep for my beloved state. Take that back. Actually, I cringe. Yeah, I cringe for Texas.

[Will Hampton @willhampton]

@UT_Bianco That clip never gets old.

[Will Hampton @willhampton]

@TheReelPhilD @Daniel_Rapaport My thought as well

[Will Hampton @willhampton]

@RoundRockPL ✋

[Will Hampton @willhampton]

@OleTimeHardball Doug Rader

[Will Hampton @willhampton]

@PGATOUR That’s got to be the most coveted swing ever. Seemingly effortless power delivery.

[Will Hampton @willhampton]

@GolfweekNichols Agree with with Fred on Maria. But a Houston Cougar should never let loose with Woo Pig Sooie

[Will Hampton @willhampton]

@Super70sSports Yes SIR!

[Will Hampton @willhampton]

@Mike_kim714 And a great bounce back shot on 16. Looking cool again!

[Will Hampton @willhampton]

@Mike_kim714 The pressure is just unreal. Marin looked cool as a cucumber a few minutes ago.

[Will Hampton @willhampton]

@CedGolden It’s not like they’re taking bad shots. Tight?

[Will Hampton @willhampton]

@byBDavis Hard to watch.

[Will Hampton @willhampton]

@kbohls Relentless

[Will Hampton @willhampton]

@Rainmaker1973 @JonahDispatch This is next-level Arooing.

[Will Hampton @willhampton]

@FBGreatMoments Never gets old.

[Will Hampton @willhampton]

@JeromeSolomon Yes