Nobody doubts that all the great things the government does with our tax dollars are worth every cent, but it would be nice to have some reality inserted into the debate about which terrific government program we should raise taxes for.

Currently you might see a commercial saying: "AB-97.6 will take wheelchairs away from poor people so that rich people can melt them down to make croquet hoops." Then the pro AB-97.6 add says: "The opponents of this bill leave out that not passing it will cause over 1 million baby kittens to be drowned." Thing is, both sides might be right but how it effects the budget and other great programs that may have to be cut back is still vague.

So I propose dumbing it down for people like me who are stupid enough to have ended up on the paying end of this tax thing. (a taxpayer) The voting screen would be a pie chart representing the current budget and where the money goes presently. Around the perimeter are the various bills. When you click on one, it's cost is inserted into the pie chart showing what percentage of the budget it will take up and correspondingly shrink the other programs that will have to suffer. You can click a secondary button to have taxes increased for this bill, in which case the whole pie grows and no other programs shrink, but you can't get away with pretending that programs that cost money don't effect the budget and/or other programs. A number showing how much your tax bill will go up will appear as well when you go that route. Your specific tax info could be put in at the beginning so it would calculate your share based on your tax filing status and income.

So if you vote for the puppy orphanage you'd see the baby duck hospital budget shrink. If you voted to fund both along with any proposed squirrel day spas, muskrat rehab centers or earthworm meditation temples, you'd get a nice clear readout saying "Ok, you just raised your tax bill $5,000 a year."
-- doctorremulac3, Dec 03 2010

voting for public utilities contract voting_20for_20publ...tilities_20contract
similar in that voters choose where money goes to, but restricted to public utilities contract [mofosyne, Oct 03 2014]

Zero-sum government!
-- Jinbish, Dec 03 2010


Yea, pretty much.

All these great programs might be a wonderful idea but an overview of how they effect the budget and other great programs might help keep things in perspective.
-- doctorremulac3, Dec 03 2010


I swear to god I was going to say that.

I think you could also add video "motivators" too. So if you click on the "vote for defunding of puppy hospitals" button it morphs into a puppy saying in a cute cartoon voice "Why do you want to kill meeee?!" then fades to a grave stone marked "Poor cute puppy that never hurt anybody March 2011 to May 2011" Then it would give you another chance by saying "Are you sure you want to do this?" When you click "hell yes, more than ever" the puppy pops up again yelling "Nooooooo!" as it fades out.
-- doctorremulac3, Dec 03 2010


Becareful not to rely on emotional appeal too much, or people will get sick of it and voting for the "kill all puppies" coalition.

---

Btw, this sounds a bit similar to my idea of "voting for public utilities contract" (thought mine is more restricted in scope).
-- mofosyne, Oct 03 2014


Sounds great. How much of the budget goes into supporting the app?
-- RayfordSteele, Oct 03 2014



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