The alliance for tax fairness created the Tax Payer game (available on their website at www.godigs.org). This game tries to involve the public, allowing players to distribute Latvia’s state budget for 2017 – 8327.5 million euros.
The game saves each of the choices by the players and groups them in different subgroups, considering age, gender and education level. More than 5000 unique budget spending options are currently available. The results of the game contribute to the general understanding of public opinion.
According to the results, most players have recognized the need for the government to increase spending on health, which is in line with the government’s current behavior. Interestingly, most people with secondary education under the age of 28 believe that pensions should be reduced. By contrast, until the age of 20 and from the age of 45, the opposite is true – at least pensions should be maintained at an existing level or increased. Almost every third participant believes that the defense budget should be reduced, instead resources should be directed at promoting public safety, including the police. The field of education is one of the sectors that most respondents want to increase their budget spending (with the exception of school-age respondents). The heading of expenditure, such as culture and contributions to the budget of the European Union, has not been reduced or increased. Most of the games respondents’ spending on these two industries has remained unchanged.
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