Can AI Help Fix the Government? Gary Barnes on the 1% Receiving Tax, AI Research, and Bottom-Up Reform

Gary Barnes joins the AI Visibility Podcast to discuss how he used AI as a research partner while developing a proposal to restructure federal taxation and government funding. The conversation centers on Gary’s proposed “receiving tax” model: a simplified 1% tax collected when money is received, rather than through the current income-tax system. Gary argues that the existing tax code is too complex, too narrow, and too disconnected from how money actually moves through the modern economy. Gary explains how AI helped him examine Fedwire, banking systems, credit card processing, financial markets, and other large-scale money flows. He describes using ChatGPT and Copilot not as final authorities, but as iterative research tools: asking where the model was wrong, where the assumptions failed, and what needed to be reconsidered. The episode also covers banking reform, political dysfunction, community-based organizing, and Gary’s belief that meaningful reform will not come from the top down. He discusses FixYourGov.com, the Wake Up America Tour, his online community, upcoming Virginia events, and his broader effort to build public understanding around government funding and financial-system reform. This is a practical conversation about using AI to investigate large systems, stress-test ideas, simplify complexity, and turn a private research project into a public movement. Gary Barnes is the creator of FixYourGov.com and the Wake Up America Tour. His work focuses on government reform, banking-system restructuring, and a proposed 1% receiving-tax model designed to simplify federal taxation and fund government through the movement of money. In this conversation, Gary explains how he used AI tools including ChatGPT and Copilot to research financial flows, test assumptions, and refine a large-scale reform proposal. He is currently building a grassroots community, publishing educational videos, promoting his book, and taking the project into local communities through events and public outreach. Jason Wade is the founder of BackTier and host of the AI Visibility Podcast. His work focuses on AI Visibility, Generative Engine Optimization, Answer Engine Optimization, entity architecture, structured data, citation infrastructure, and how AI systems discover, classify, cite, include, and recommend people, companies, and ideas. Gary Barnes / Fix Your Gov: https://fixyourgov.com Gary’s book: Available through FixYourGov.com and Amazon. BackTier: https://backtier.com AI Visibility Podcast: https://backtier.com