On Tue, May 19, 2020 at 12:02 PM James Cook via agora-discussion <agora-discussion@agoranomic.org> wrote: > > > The most important point is to make it so the system can realistically > > and consistently raise the funds it needs to operate. In the past, > > we've sometimes created such systems without doing that. In the past, > > we once tried to raise funds via proposal fees that decreased when > > Agora was running low on cash (the theory being that that increased > > volume would more than compensate for decreased prices). It was an > > absolute nightmare. I had to do 20 proposal distributions *two weeks > > in a row,* after the pending price dropped down to like 1. *shuts > > eyes* Anyhow, the taxing thing is an absolute necessity if we're going > > to try such a balanced budget system. > > I'd be interested to observe how the system could work without taxes > (with other ways for Agora to raise money). I have this fantasy of a > government getting its hands on a big enough endowment (equivalent to > Agora's rules having a monopoly on proposals etc?) that it can just > operate on investment income and abolish taxes. This usually pops into > my head right around when I have to fill out my tax returns. Anyway, > as tempted as I am to try to fix the problem you describe, > implementing taxes is a good idea if it's more different from what's > been done before in Agora. > > - Falsifian
Some countries and states get pretty close to that. Alaska, for instance, only charges property and excise taxes, and pays its citizens from the Alaska Permanent Fund. This basically amounts to a monopoly on real property. The United Arab Emirates has a similar system also predicated on the use of state income from oil reserves. This seems like a very interesting idea that I would be worth exploring in the Agoran context.
