[falcor84]

I would be very much in favor of an amendment that says that whenever there's a single person in a public role that isn't being paid in a given month, then no other public employee above them in the chain, going up to the governor/president will be paid that month either.

[direwolf20]

That won't work since they'll still receive their bribes. Except for the ones who don't take bribes - they'll be punished for not taking bribes. Be careful what incentives you set up.

Now, if the rule was for them to have their bank accounts drained to zero (offshore bank accounts though)...

Actually what might work is locking them inside the government building until people are getting paid again. Some countries have rules like that in some scenarios.

Another one that might work is dissolving the government and calling an election. Many countries have that. If the governance structure can't pass a budget, operations continue according to the old budget while the entire governance structure gets fired and replaced.