"It's The Thought That Counts"

Eluding easy reduction to either Free Will or Determinism is the experience alluded to in the popular phrase "It's the thought that counts".  For, on the one hand, attributing value to "the thought" in the phrase, as well as in the Morality of Intention, and in the Theological thesis that it is the object of the judgment of a deity who is privy to such an inner datum, indicates that it is freely adopted.  On the other hand, since Will is a type of Cause, and hence has an Effect, while the attribution abstracts from any Effect, indicates that the thought is not a Will.  So, the occurrence of a value-bearing Intention can be classified as a type of Indeterminism.  Now, insofar as he holds that a Maxim of an Action, regardless of what actually occurs, is the bearer of Value, Kant seems to be such an Indeterminist.  However, he also holds that a Good Maxim serves Will in constraining Inclination, by preventing e. g. suicide, false promising, etc., i. e. has an Effect, he is a Self-Determinist.  So, perhaps Consequentialists are correct, and in Kant's doctrine, it is not the thought that counts.