you can audit a small number and know. sure the clerk can risk one, but statistically they are caught with enough.

By "you" you mean a regular Russian citizen? Who is in charge of the clerks under this system, and what ensures that they aren't as corrupt as before?

I mean the mayor. You can also hire independent auditors. As a person just keep electing mayors unrelated to the last and hope they expose each other.

> How do you ensure that the clerk isn't just accepting false businesses and giving a percentage to whoever's above?

What do you mean by a “false business”? Here in the US they have not asked me anything except Articles of Incorporation (and $800 a year). Federal regulations in Russia required much more paperwork. But the libertarian city council in Troitsk just deliberately didn’t care to add anything to the pile. Bad documents - it was actually a problem for the business being registered. If federal regulators caught a discrepancy- the business will be in a huge trouble. So checking the documents- it was nothing more than a service provided by a city council to the company being registered. If the documents were inconsistent - the business will complain.

This setup really worked, as I said in the original post. It’s not a theoretical suggestion.