Hmm...a kind of "If I were President..." question...
I voted "Other," because I do view this poll as oversimplifying a major structure that has built-in obstructionism, as envisioned by the Founding Fathers. Unfortunately, that has created a bloated structure has become so large that it has almost become too incomprehensible to manage. Hence, we have a highly complicated tax structure and money just leaking at the seams.
Truthfully, though, the first thing I would do is probably audit the entire American budget, and I would try and itemize where everything is spent. Then, I would start making cuts on things that shouldn't exist anymore, such as an 1898 "luxury tax" on gasoline to help pay for the long-finished Spanish-American War that we are *still* collecting taxes on. Cuts could probably be made in several places. Then, I would likely restructure the tax system to ensure that those who have the money pay their fair share of taxes. A revised "flat tax" plan might not be a bad idea after all, but I would make that "flat tax" more of a graduated flat tax, depending on how much one makes, with no more deductions loopholes. 18% across the board, as Steve Forbes once proposed, would have put an undue burden on the poor (their taxes would actually have gone up 2%) and given a massive tax cut for the ultra-wealthy. Corporations also need a similar structure to ensure that mega corporations pay their share of taxes as well. Hence, no more Enrons getting away with no taxes.
Secondly, I would start assessing what needs to be fixed--and there is a lot. "Urban decay" has been seen as a simple matter-of-fact for, at least, a couple of generations of Americans. The problem arises, however, when one visits Europe and that "urban decay" is only a minute fraction of the city, which seems more vibrant than ever. I would likely put a lot of money towards infrastructure improvements--cities, roads, etc.
Next, I would likely restructure the nature of the public debt system, because, as you can read above, 206.1 billion dollars went to loan interest *alone* in 2000-2001. I don't know about you, but that is a *lot* of money being used on debt payments. I would put in a system to eventually pay off the debt and to limit our ability to accumulate such a debt in the future. This is precisely why the current Bush Administration infuriated me so, giving a massive tax cut that we clearly cannot afford now, assuming that some magic economic boom is on the horizon...which we don't know will happen or not.
Just some thoughts...
Melon