Perhaps the most infringed upon article of the Bill of Rights during the last century has been the Tenth, which continues to be ignored today. States rights have been largely circumvented by the growing federal government organizations and agencies, in particular in the Executive branch. The federal government's growth rate has exceeded the Gross Domestic Product's growth rate, in percentage, and the trend should not be allowed to continue. If you need an example of this largess then you haven’t been paying attention, nevertheless here is the example.
Consider the ideas here as I hope that you are open-minded and like fresh ideas. These ideas would, effectively, eliminate the need for individuals and tax-paying entities to file Federal income tax returns. Unfortunately payroll taxes could not be delegated to the states under this idea because of the scope and complexity of promised federal benefits and the freedom of people to change state residency at their discretion. This means that payroll tax for Social Security and Medicare would have to be left in place unless completely privatized (very unlikely).
The idea is very simple. The jurisdictions and roles of the departments responsible for the federal government's budgeting, accounting, and revenue collection would be changed so that Washington D.C. and the 50 states would receive an 'itemized bill' for the services that the various government branches, departments, and agencies provide to the states. The states would then tax its citizens based on their federal 'bill', their own state representation, and of their own state's necessity. The states would decide their taxing methods based on what they feel would be fair and just. But, each state would be required to allow the federal government, at the state's expense, to conduct regular census and, each state would have to submit a comprehensive and federally standardized gross income figure for all of its tax payers.
The calculations of how the federal government could bill the states would be based on up to three factors depending on the federal service provided and the 'bill' would be an itemized listing of each service. The three federal tax factors would be: the states population as a percentage of the total United States population, the states landmass minus federal lands (in square miles), and the states total federally standardized gross income of its taxpayers.
Some federal services would only use one factor for its calculation when determining the state's billed portion. For instance, the Environmental Protection Agency would only be billed based on a landmass calculation. This would be a proportionately high expense for Alaska when compared to New Jersey. However, when billing for the federal representation of Alaska and billing New Jersey's federal representation, calculations would be based only on the population factor making New Jersey's bill proportionately higher than Alaska's. Other federal agencies would have to calculate their bills according to hybrid factors because their services may have more than one correlating factor. Adding a federally standardized gross income factor to a calculation would give consideration to a states industry and cost of living conditions, making the billing as fair as possible for that service provided. For example, when comparing New Hampshire and Maine, two states with similar populations, it becomes apparent that New Hampshire taxpayers can afford to pay a larger percentage then their northern neighbors because their taxpayers collectively earn more. Of course a federal standard (as mentioned above) to measure the gross income would be necessary so that states with a larger retirement population would still have to pay their fair share.
As stated earlier, the need for federal income tax returns would be eliminated. This change should be largely agreeable to the nation's taxpayers. The states would more than likely endorse the idea because the influence would be brought back to their level where it belongs. States could attract or repel their respected residents by providing services, infrastructure, and economic incentives/pressures - think of it as a 'free market' solution to determine how we wish to be taxed. The states would also be able to decide how they would tax their citizens. This could possibly start a trend where the federal government shrinks in size if the states come to the conclusion that they could provide their own services. States could take over a service only as long as that state could maintain a uniform standard of service.