I wonder if this could get handled at the county level. The money could be dispersed equitably by the county seat, and people could choose from a number of gifts provided by the towns in the county
Re:Japan's Hometown Tax
by emodendroket on Monday September 18, 2023 @05:35PM
(#37562398)
That's a good thought but why stop there? Why not have some kind of national government that collects tax dollars and apportions them according to need?
Re:Japan's Hometown Tax
by midoridensha on Monday September 18, 2023 @10:00PM
(#37564822)
>and the towns that can't afford that industry or don't have anything particularly commercializable to sell get left in the dust.
What's wrong with this? If a town doesn't have anything to offer, then why does it exist at all? And why should anyone outside the town be supporting it to help its continued existence?
The western US is full of "ghost towns": towns that used to exist back in the 1800s during the mining boom then, but when the mines dried up, so did the towns. The people all left and the town fell back to nature. These days, there's usually nothing left besides building foundations, if that. Small towns these days that have nothing left to offer should go the same way.
This is the devil that lives in the details. You have an industry of people who are trying to get these charitable donations, and the towns that can't afford that industry or don't have anything particularly commercializable to sell get left in the dust.
For every town that becomes Country Ham Town, you have hundreds of small towns who are "random postcard town" who only get a few bucks a year. It's tough to say if they even make money vs losing money on that.