[valty]

> small government

A different spin on "small".

I wonder if you could have micro-governments instead on a per-topic basis with their own mini-budgets.

These omnibus spending bills seem absurd.

The tax should be incurred/realized at the point of the benefit received.

Imagine getting a monthly bill on your estimated tax spend with details of everything it is spent on and how that benefit flows through to you. This might make people more receptive to government.

Also thinking about a Government+ premium subscription service. How can the government offer added benefits to raise more money for things. I guess this is charity.

[fragmede]

Attribution is incredibly hard but would be amazing to see. My tax dollars 15 years ago paid for a child's education, and that child is now a productive member of society. A magic system that showed my tax dollars flowing through to that child having a stable job and a home instead of being out on the streets and committing violence, being a drug addict, would be eye opening.

The idea of Government+ rankles me. We have lost sight of the founding preamble, that all men are created equal, under God. It has evolved to include people of all color, and other genders, and religion is not as much of a focus, but those parts are okay. What i have a problem with is the idea that rich people are better than poor people. In charging money for things, the poor get excluded, and Government+ will leave them behind. Charge money for things because that's how the system works, but also recognize that having carpool lanes instead be express lanes where they just charge money to use them is classist.

[valty]

> showed my tax dollars flowing through to that child...would be eye opening

I agree. Charity's often use this for marketing. Making clear the direct human impact of your donation. Tech companies like Apple do this a lot too.

But when a government talks of its successes in statistics...I don't think about my tax spend. I think that it was my (and other people's) vote for that team that did that. And typically not even the team...rather the leadership of the political party.

It's like a shift in the marketing approach.

We sent 100bn to this country to help out with this.

vs.

Average Joe paid 10$ of his income last year which helped pay for this and that for these people. One of those people today was Sally... One of those people 15 years ago was Tracy...