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Should Government $$ Transactions Be Open or Closed?

government-moneyWe want your feedback!

We are running out of room on the Government Main Page and are creating a new “Govt Finances & Assets” page that will house the following items:

  • Finances Summary box ($$ in bank and the tax rates)
  • Government-owned Properties
  • Government’s units, and
  • The Tax Revenue table

We have a whole column of space on the right-hand side and were thinking of creating a feed that would show the Government’s trades and financial transactions. At first we thought this feature would be great in creating all sorts of material for Town Hall debates and National Court cases, but then we realized that it wouldn’t at all simulate reality: there is no such thing as a 100% financially open government.

As well, some of the best stories we have heard from our users are about corrupt politicians getting caught, and we fear that a financial transaction feed would deter any and all types of corrupt transactions (not that we want to encourage student politicians to be corrupt, but we fear that the unrealistic transparency would steer students away from the very real temptations that do exist for politicians in the real world).

So we are seeking feedback! Using the comment space below, tell us what you think we should do with the space on the “Government Assets & Finances” page for! 

Should we create the government financial transaction feed, or should we use the space for something else related to government finances, and if so, what should that new feature be?

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6 Responses to Should Government $$ Transactions Be Open or Closed?

  1. Chris Finnie says:

    What about a chat box for citizens to ask questions of the government and the government can respond? Kind of a mini-wiki/chat specifically related to the government with posts being tied to user name?

  2. civic says:

    Hi Chris, great suggestion, and we are working VERY hard in re-designing and organizing the community to accommodate increased “talk” in the CM Community. We’ll look into the technical possibilities of integrating the forums into this space, or maybe tagging a forum “government” so that the question could be posed in the forums but appear in the Govt Question Box too. Hmmmm ….

    We’re also wondering about $$-related stats we might be neglecting to show, or could show that could add value and/or stir the pot too.

    Thanks for your suggestion! Very cool.

  3. Joshua Verbrugge says:

    Perhaps just a government budget? Taxes collected, total money spent, etc, instead of just an itemization of transactions?

  4. Martin MacNeil says:

    I agree with Josh. A section for Government Budget that would outline estimated revenue collected from taxes would be a great idea. It would help my students in setting the budget that I ask them to set up every year.

  5. Civic Mirror says:

    These are great suggestions Josh and Martin. We’re going to look into this for sure and see what we can do. Thanks for your suggestions!

  6. Dan Ballantyne says:

    I think it would be very helpful to have an open record of Government transactions. One question though, is that reflected in real life? Perhaps a system where the government can decide to make their transactions transparent or not. That could stimulate a lot of discussion about transparency.