Could government debts be paid via crowdfunding instead of taxes? That’s the proposal of Thom Feeney, a 29-year old man from London, England. He claims that if the 503 million inhabitants of European Union contributed with a little more than 3 euros each, the Greek debt could be paid off, the Greek government could be bailed out and the Greek people could finally breathe relieved. The project went live on Indiegogo.
Whether or not the Greek government would cut spending and avoid this situation in the future is open for debate, of course. But the fact is that nearly 100,000 people contributed their euros to the cause, a whooping 1.9 million euros! A lot of money right? Well, not quite. That’s a little bit more than 0.1% of the amount needed, 1.6 billion euros.
The project attracted a lot of media attention, including a MSN article that questions the practicality of delivering such a large sum of money to the Greek government. Would the money be delivered as a donation? What about the compound interests on the amount owed? And what about the postcard with Alexis Tsipras? Has Feeny really talked to Greek Prime Minister in order to fulfill his promise?
Nonetheless, the most interesting question is in the way governments could reach out to people to help them out with their debts. Even not being successful, fact is that could open a new venue for governments raise funds, not only to pay their debts, but to invest in infrastructure and social projects as well.
Could governments have this revenue stream along with taxes? Could they count on it? Governments all over the world are notorious for using all the funds available and then throw more taxes on citizens when there is a deficit, but still are highly regarded as welfare organizations worth goodwill by most people. In spite of the failure to meet goals, the 100,000 people who donated to Greek government as charity prove the point.