Tuesday, May 15, 2018

Here's an idea! 💡

I am drafting a manifesto for an awesome project I am involved in, and seeking inspiration I returned to Iceland's Core Manifesto.

I urge you to read it. It is a faith boost. For a sneak peek, here's the very first bit:

We wish to build a community in which people both can and want to use their skills to the fullest. It is important to ensure stability in economics and to maintain trust in politics and the government’s institutions. We only engage in factual debates and contribute to decent polity with an emphasis on transparency and good morals.
Public interest instead of private interest. Each individual, home and company shall be treated equally.
Natural resources belong to the entire nation. They are to be used sensibly and paid for in quotation.
It goes on. Really awesome. It sparked one of my idealistic ideas. Tell me if you think it is implementable! I think it is a good draft :)

Citizens and residents pay taxes. In the best systems, they pay taxes in proportion to their wealth and income, so let's assume we are in one of those, or trying to get there.

Suppose that for each citizen we combined the following data:
  • taxes paid
  • positive impact of job (for example teachers, caregivers, health workers, public servants, etc, would rank higher than other occupations)
  • services rendered to the community (like volunteering, being a student, support of xx initiatives, etc)
  • you probably get my drift. 
The data would combine (algorithm?) and create a category or percentage number representing the value that an individual contributes, not exclusively through money, but through habits and occupation.

So every tax payer would be in a category of contribution that would translate into how much they are charged when using public resources. Why would a tax-paying teacher pay the same price than a foreign tourist to enter a National Park in their own country? Or use public transport, for that matter?

The benefit alone might encourage people to contribute responsibly, and be an incentive to go the extra mile to support and add value to their communities.

Call me naive, but I believe not much stands between our reality and a social pact like the proposed above. One of them is our reluctance to acknowledge that mediocrity is self-determined and starts with low aspirations; another one is that we lack a few more believers with the ambition to work for the public interest, rather than just for themselves.


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