On a serious note, I do worry it could turn into bribery and backfire. I've had friends from Burundi hwho told me stories like hwhenever they went in to a government office to get a passport, document, license, etc., they'd say: "Come back in five days" hwhich was code for "Give me 5000 Francs and I'll do it right away!"
You could see public servants purposely going SLOWER unless you tip them!
Also, hwhen I was a minor, I would generously tip licensed restaurant workers hwho didn't ID me hwhen I ordered alcohol. You might see DMV workers racking in big tips for issuing people licenses hwhilst ignoring their record of multiple DUIs!
Doesn't change anything. People like Boeing will tip their government contract officers the day after the mandatory ten year waiting period. The when you will get a tip is irrelevant as long as you know it's coming.
Fair but interactions are rarely one-off, even driver licenses get renewed and government employees collude on cartel pricing as you see in the real world in most third world countries.
I thought this as well, but it is not like you just say tip everyone at anytime. There would be rules. No tipping family members or maybe industry employees (Boeing can tip anyone outside aviation).
Great idea. As with all such ideas, I need to think through unintended consequences and haven't done so yet. If I have anything of value to offer, I will come back and state it.
I work for the government - if this existed it would in practice just be my extended family 'tipping' me for being related.
I am sympathetic to the idea, but this is almost certainly something you would need controls for and I am unconvinced by how effective they would be - fundamentally, unlike with tips, these are free to give and so the incentives are different in important ways.
"And the alternative often looks like European waitstaff paid primarily on salary, who bring out menus before disappearing for half an hour on a smoke break"
I've never had an experience like this in any European restaurant (or in other countries such as Australia where there is no tipping).
Yeah, it's an absurd strawman. In fact, French waiters are famously well-trained and incredibly efficient. They're not famed for their politeness, but interactions are perfectly pleasant.
In most countries, incentives for waiters look like incentives for most jobs - you do your job well so that interactions are more friendly and so that your manager doesn't shout at you (also, in my old job, if you were bad at waiting-on they moved you to washing-up).
Honestly brilliant framing to compare this to tipping. The key insight is that its not about merit tracking but making unpleasantness personally costly. I dealt with a zoning office lastmonth where the clerk seemed to actively enjoy my frustration, and theres zero recourse in that scenario. The floor and ceiling caps are smart too since they prevent it from becoming punitive while still creating skin in the game.
I already tip in cash to garage men and Public Works personnel. Haven't had much to do with City Hall personnel, most of whom provide a service that could be either eliminated or replaced by the private sector
Can I ask how you do this, as a practical matter? I read about leaving an envelope on the trash can, but I don't like that at all - seems no better than a 50/50 chance they would actually get it.
A certain amount of discretionary freedoms for taxpayers to allocate their tax dollars generally, even if they have little control of their tax rate, would go a long way toward restoring trust. This is one really good idea for that freedom.
One of my many ideas for reforming government, before I simplified everything into my Chartertopia fantasy, was that every election would include a review of every incumbent. Rate how much their last term or two years should count towards their pension, from 0 (nothing) to 5 (normal) to 10 (double). But it only rated Congress Critters.
Another was more of a department rating. Congress passes their budgets like should be normal, but they are budget caps, not mandates. The IRS tax owed is the same as always. But the taxpayer allocates that IRS tax to departments of their own choosing. If a department receives more tax than their Congressional budget, the excess is distributed to voters (which encourages voting). If a department doesn't receive as much tax as as their Congressional limit, too bad; sell assets, fire employees, cut back. And if Congress has not set a budget cap for a department, it vanishes; zero budget, zero employees, sell all its assets and distribute the revenue to voters.
I don't know how many taxpayers would allocate all their taxes to the national parks to force most of it to be distributed to voters. I suspect most taxpayers would be more "honorable" than that, simply for taking seriously their part on setting budgets.
Distribution to voters, how? Lottery, who knows. Doesn't matter.
I had played with a similar idea in my head, but I went one step further: instead of voting for representatives, you vote with your taxes. All taxes are voluntary. You send in your tax form annually, but you specify how much you want to contribute towards each department: $500 to DOD, $100 to DOJ, $50 to DOI, etc. I mean, it's all a pipe dream anyway, so might as well go big. But I don't think voluntary taxation has ever been tried. I would have liked to see at least one natural experiment with it.
The greatest fiscal problem the federal government faces is the national debt exceeding $38 trillion plus unfunded federal obligations estimated to exceed $73 trillion, and the best solution to this problem involves drastically reducing federal spending. I propose that taxpayers be permitted to opt for cutting wasteful spending, such as for improper Medicare and Medicaid payments, and unpopular spending, such as for regulations that adversely affect our lives. According to a CATO Institute survey, on average, Americans find 59% of federal spending wasteful or unpopular. If taxpayers were able to require spending cuts equal to a significant proportion of their tax liabilities, in the long run that would result in reduced taxes, less borrowing, lower interest payments, less inflation, and more economic growth. The taxpayers must be made aware of the relevant information needed to guide their decisions.
my immediate reaction is trying to exploit this system and I think the most obvious choice is a tipping ring that gets 1% on the groups collective salary
fwiw I like the concept and I don't think 1% is a deal breaker, maybe even a boon, but they seems to be a glaring weakness of a naive implementation of gov tip jar
Why is the department of motor vehicles the symbol of bad government? It feels like an opinion crystallized deep in my childhood which is manifestly untrue.
Every interaction I have ever had with DMV has been on an increasing trend of both professionalism and speed my entire life. This has involved dealing with some very weird problems involving vehicles that belonged to other people on my toll passes and drivers license issues involving phantom tickets from photo radars resolved long ago that didn't go away when paid (these in particular were related to private contractors with the state! In fact, the closer the problem got to something the DMV could actually solve in-house, the faster it went.) This can't be anomalous, as I've had interactions with them maybe a few times a year for the last 25 years. The direction is clear, and it's improvement that puts my interactions with private companies like Amazon and Comcast to shame. In fact, I feel far more resignation and anxiety when there's a modern company I have to deal with, especially if I'm referred to a chatbot or email ticket chain. My experience has simply been that the public sector bureaucracy has responded to criticism while the private sector has learned how to make you give up.
You don't even have to wait in line at the DMV anymore. You can do whatever and they'll text you when your time is close. That is not the case at Verizon, where they'll take your name and make you sit around in something not even a line, and you have to bother them repeatedly to let them know you're still there.
On a serious note, I do worry it could turn into bribery and backfire. I've had friends from Burundi hwho told me stories like hwhenever they went in to a government office to get a passport, document, license, etc., they'd say: "Come back in five days" hwhich was code for "Give me 5000 Francs and I'll do it right away!"
You could see public servants purposely going SLOWER unless you tip them!
Also, hwhen I was a minor, I would generously tip licensed restaurant workers hwho didn't ID me hwhen I ordered alcohol. You might see DMV workers racking in big tips for issuing people licenses hwhilst ignoring their record of multiple DUIs!
Disable the H key on your keyboard.
hhhhhhhhhhWhhhhhhhhhyyyyy?
Solution: Can't tip until 2 weeks AFTER interacting with them.
Doesn't change anything. People like Boeing will tip their government contract officers the day after the mandatory ten year waiting period. The when you will get a tip is irrelevant as long as you know it's coming.
Ya, it's a problem for repeated interactions. If you don't tip you get stonewalling.
But for one-off interactions with the public it seems a useful scheme.
Fair but interactions are rarely one-off, even driver licenses get renewed and government employees collude on cartel pricing as you see in the real world in most third world countries.
I thought this as well, but it is not like you just say tip everyone at anytime. There would be rules. No tipping family members or maybe industry employees (Boeing can tip anyone outside aviation).
Great idea. As with all such ideas, I need to think through unintended consequences and haven't done so yet. If I have anything of value to offer, I will come back and state it.
The biggest unintended consequence is that I hate tipping culture. I don't want to expand it.
So crazy to see THE David R Henderson saying I have a great idea!! Honored and looking forward to hearing your valuable thoughts :)
I work for the government - if this existed it would in practice just be my extended family 'tipping' me for being related.
I am sympathetic to the idea, but this is almost certainly something you would need controls for and I am unconvinced by how effective they would be - fundamentally, unlike with tips, these are free to give and so the incentives are different in important ways.
"And the alternative often looks like European waitstaff paid primarily on salary, who bring out menus before disappearing for half an hour on a smoke break"
I've never had an experience like this in any European restaurant (or in other countries such as Australia where there is no tipping).
Yeah, it's an absurd strawman. In fact, French waiters are famously well-trained and incredibly efficient. They're not famed for their politeness, but interactions are perfectly pleasant.
In most countries, incentives for waiters look like incentives for most jobs - you do your job well so that interactions are more friendly and so that your manager doesn't shout at you (also, in my old job, if you were bad at waiting-on they moved you to washing-up).
"Any government employee would be eligible, from the TSA worker who was extra helpful to the TSA worker who was extra handsy"
Some people like their TSA workers being extra handsy! 😉
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x92ccvZCzlg
🤣🤣🤣
Honestly brilliant framing to compare this to tipping. The key insight is that its not about merit tracking but making unpleasantness personally costly. I dealt with a zoning office lastmonth where the clerk seemed to actively enjoy my frustration, and theres zero recourse in that scenario. The floor and ceiling caps are smart too since they prevent it from becoming punitive while still creating skin in the game.
I already tip in cash to garage men and Public Works personnel. Haven't had much to do with City Hall personnel, most of whom provide a service that could be either eliminated or replaced by the private sector
Can I ask how you do this, as a practical matter? I read about leaving an envelope on the trash can, but I don't like that at all - seems no better than a 50/50 chance they would actually get it.
How about an Amazon rating system of one through five stars? That would be much cleaner and easier and probably attract many more comments.
A certain amount of discretionary freedoms for taxpayers to allocate their tax dollars generally, even if they have little control of their tax rate, would go a long way toward restoring trust. This is one really good idea for that freedom.
One of my many ideas for reforming government, before I simplified everything into my Chartertopia fantasy, was that every election would include a review of every incumbent. Rate how much their last term or two years should count towards their pension, from 0 (nothing) to 5 (normal) to 10 (double). But it only rated Congress Critters.
Another was more of a department rating. Congress passes their budgets like should be normal, but they are budget caps, not mandates. The IRS tax owed is the same as always. But the taxpayer allocates that IRS tax to departments of their own choosing. If a department receives more tax than their Congressional budget, the excess is distributed to voters (which encourages voting). If a department doesn't receive as much tax as as their Congressional limit, too bad; sell assets, fire employees, cut back. And if Congress has not set a budget cap for a department, it vanishes; zero budget, zero employees, sell all its assets and distribute the revenue to voters.
I don't know how many taxpayers would allocate all their taxes to the national parks to force most of it to be distributed to voters. I suspect most taxpayers would be more "honorable" than that, simply for taking seriously their part on setting budgets.
Distribution to voters, how? Lottery, who knows. Doesn't matter.
I had played with a similar idea in my head, but I went one step further: instead of voting for representatives, you vote with your taxes. All taxes are voluntary. You send in your tax form annually, but you specify how much you want to contribute towards each department: $500 to DOD, $100 to DOJ, $50 to DOI, etc. I mean, it's all a pipe dream anyway, so might as well go big. But I don't think voluntary taxation has ever been tried. I would have liked to see at least one natural experiment with it.
A very interesting idea
Thank you!!
The thing about this article that strikes me the most is how similar the complaints are in India as well.
The proposal won't work probably as second-order consequences seem worse than the current system as pointed out by others here.
Someone pointed out an Amazon style 5 star rating system which could work for processes for individuals but the checks would be tough to implement.
So... your proposal applies to safety inspectors, as well?
The greatest fiscal problem the federal government faces is the national debt exceeding $38 trillion plus unfunded federal obligations estimated to exceed $73 trillion, and the best solution to this problem involves drastically reducing federal spending. I propose that taxpayers be permitted to opt for cutting wasteful spending, such as for improper Medicare and Medicaid payments, and unpopular spending, such as for regulations that adversely affect our lives. According to a CATO Institute survey, on average, Americans find 59% of federal spending wasteful or unpopular. If taxpayers were able to require spending cuts equal to a significant proportion of their tax liabilities, in the long run that would result in reduced taxes, less borrowing, lower interest payments, less inflation, and more economic growth. The taxpayers must be made aware of the relevant information needed to guide their decisions.
my immediate reaction is trying to exploit this system and I think the most obvious choice is a tipping ring that gets 1% on the groups collective salary
fwiw I like the concept and I don't think 1% is a deal breaker, maybe even a boon, but they seems to be a glaring weakness of a naive implementation of gov tip jar
Why is the department of motor vehicles the symbol of bad government? It feels like an opinion crystallized deep in my childhood which is manifestly untrue.
Every interaction I have ever had with DMV has been on an increasing trend of both professionalism and speed my entire life. This has involved dealing with some very weird problems involving vehicles that belonged to other people on my toll passes and drivers license issues involving phantom tickets from photo radars resolved long ago that didn't go away when paid (these in particular were related to private contractors with the state! In fact, the closer the problem got to something the DMV could actually solve in-house, the faster it went.) This can't be anomalous, as I've had interactions with them maybe a few times a year for the last 25 years. The direction is clear, and it's improvement that puts my interactions with private companies like Amazon and Comcast to shame. In fact, I feel far more resignation and anxiety when there's a modern company I have to deal with, especially if I'm referred to a chatbot or email ticket chain. My experience has simply been that the public sector bureaucracy has responded to criticism while the private sector has learned how to make you give up.
You don't even have to wait in line at the DMV anymore. You can do whatever and they'll text you when your time is close. That is not the case at Verizon, where they'll take your name and make you sit around in something not even a line, and you have to bother them repeatedly to let them know you're still there.