What should the BTC platform look like?



If you ever used platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, online banking, IndiGoGo, KickStarter, or something similar, the Basic Tax Control platform will not be significantly different.
However, there are some specific things we need to mention:

The BTC platform must be transparent

There is no anonymity on the platform. Every transaction, every discussion, every comment, must be publically visible. Companies seeking investments would need to open their books and show how they do business. They would need to disclose all accounts and everything that is connected to that investment — every single expenditure and transaction must be visible to their “minority share holders” or “public patrons”.

In this way, every transaction can be a part of public scrutiny and open for discussion. If the “project owner” is spending too much and not accomplishing what he has promised, that should be visible to the public, along with the reason why that happened. It is a form of “public shaming” and provides security and assurance against future fraudulent attempts from the same individuals or companies. Rogue companies and bogus projects, as well as people connected to those, should be stopped by this type of full transparency and by existing laws.

Companies must give regular updates reports on progress and how money is spent; all information must be standardised and easy to understand.

Bad money management by the company/project owner or fraudulent activities will impact ratings of the company and people involved. If someone does not fulfil the promises he made, for instance, no one will invest in him in the future, as his ratings will be downgraded. Bad ratings will mean an inability to apply for future investments, and, in more severe cases, can have legal implications. If track records and ratings are good, the public will be willing to invest in the same company/people again.

The system is designed to balance itself. Those who are not successful in meeting their funding goals will not be treated as failures, and negative rankings would not be applicable to them. Negative rankings would be reserved only for those who get full funding but do not complete what they said they will do or do not execute the project satisfactorily.

Both government officials and public investors could check the validity of operations at any moment, since the platform is open. Anyone would have ability to check, monitor, and react, in the case of suspicious activity.

Transparency is one of the key requirements; if someone wants to ask for money, then he/she has to show how it is being spent. At the end of the day, we want to avoid situations where someone is pleading for money to save whales, but spends it in a casino in Hawaii while drinking Piña Coladas.

The BTC platform allows anyone to create projects

Anyone can create a project, but that project must adhere to the existing rules. If a project is good, and it can benefit society, there is no reason why anyone who has a good idea cannot create project.

The BTC platform rewards success and talent

Successful projects and good ideas should be rewarded. A reward system, if done right, could additionally enhance entrepreneurship, innovation, and altruistic spirit, uplifting and empowering people to do more by putting additional effort into learning and doing more.

The BTC platform must be publically owned

The same public that gets BTC funds should also own the platform in equal proportion. The BTC platform, must not wind up in the hands of the government, private owners, or corporations — especially not giant corporations, like Google, Facebook, Apple, etc.

Although the public type of ownership does not currently exist legally, it could be created for this purpose. Public ownership, unlike private ownership, would not be inheritable or transferable; public ownership is always dispersed over the members of the group equally. Only in this way would it be possible to keep the level of transparency and independency need for a truly democratic operation of the BTC platform.

The BTC platform should respect the open/close principle

Open to connect and open to communicate. Closed to outside influence and control. The end goal is to have BTC that has multiple levels: local, constituency, country, and world. Levels or nodes can open to each other, but not everyone is connected to everyone. Nodes should be connected as balanced topological networks. Connections should be either based on the principle of geographical relations or communities similar to those of “twin towns” (“friendship towns”).

The BTC platform must have a discussion section

This discussion section, if designed properly, should help people discuss, in a constructive way, current and future projects, but not just projects, any matter of public interest can be discussed there. The goal is to reduce clutter but give everyone a chance to speak and express opinions in a non-violent manner. Ideas, discussions, and arguments should not be repeated; they should be brainstormed and then narrowed down to the most optimal ones.

BTC control should be more by design than by people and rules

Users decide how to use the platform; there should be general rules, but fewer the better. Rules should be imposed, like in any other online system, more through functionality than through the wider set of regulations one needs to follow. Basic Tax Control has some integral parts: funding model, reward system, and a discussion platform – and those are good examples of control by design. One can only do actions inside the platform that the platform allows them to do.

The general rules of debating should be applied, in order to avoid inappropriate or spam behaviour. The idea is to enhance cooperation, efficiency, and the level of public service needed for the wellbeing of all members of society.

The BTC should serve as a knowledge base for success

Individual success stories of people and companies, and especially stories on how to avoid challenges and overcome the problems, are an important part of the knowledge that should be freely available and shared openly. Those communities that succeeded and became self-sustaining should share their success stories and help others.

It is illusory to talk about real cooperation by excluding some areas, countries, or races; if we really want change, we will bring that change to everyone, regardless of their origin or religious beliefs. The success stories should be there for everyone to learn from and for everyone to share. We live on one finite planet, and the issues we experiencing do not know about borders or differences; therefore, solutions should not know borders, either.

BTC ratings

Both companies and people should have ratings. Individual ratings are reserved for members that support platforms with their expert knowledge or are involved in debates.

All projects will have several types of ratings: efficiency, execution, quality, ethics, impact, and similar. Negative ratings are applied only for deceitful and fraudulent actions.

The ratings for companies are a cumulative sum of not only their projects but also the people involved. Those who have ideas that can achieve a great impact and can benefit society the most, along with a delivery that was within the boundaries of what was promised, are rated the best.

BTC is dynamic

The core rules must be kept, but the platform will change over time, in order to improve performance, user experience, or functionality. Basic Tax Control can be adjusted to better suit a certain environment, but it must not lose the main purpose and core rules from its sight, and that is moving toward a direct democracy and a society where none of its members need to struggle for survival.

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