An example of a straight-forward protocol (businesses should vote on what works best for them, however!):
The Othernance is enacted, creating a new government agency, and it is ONLY funding projects from Business' Dollar-Votes. Projects are quickly posted to their app:
"Hyperbloop" estimated at $1T
"Solar Desal into Agriculture" estimated at $500B
"R & D into Robotic Automation" estimated at $800B
So, US Businesses start voting with their dollars! Their first vote in favor of a proposal will cost $1, while the second costs $3, the third is $6, then $10 for the fourth, each 'k-th vote' costing $k more dollars than the last. You wanted 20 votes? That'll be $1,540, as taxes toward *whichever* project has the most votes. Your votes still 'stick' to your preferred project; it just gets funded by the next wave of votes, as long as it stays on top! Watch:
In the first round of voting (over months I assume, to negotiate financing options): Hyperbloop was pledged $300B in votes, which was NOT enough to fund it, yet it was the highest vote-total. (Pledges are not transferred unless the funding target is reached *and* that project is the top vote at the time.) Desalination got $280B in votes, which was second-best, yet it also fell short. Automation got $200B, well below its funding target. Because no one met their target, none of the pledges are transferred, and a second round begins:
The A.I. folks were morbidly ashamed of how little the other businesses valued Automation, and they went on a campaign pitching the value-streams they could provide; in the second round of Funding-Votes, both Desal and Automation pulled-in the most. (Hyperbloop received critical press from engineers, and had few additional votes.) Desal pulls another $200B, to a total of $480B pledged. Automation got $270B extra, for a total of $470B, a close second!
Yet, the *combined* total tax-votes pledged has climbed to $1,250B, which can definitely fund at least *one* of the projects! Now, because the funding total is greater than the highest-voted project, THAT project is funded first. In this case, Desal has the most votes, so it is funded the necessary $500B, leaving $750B still pledged.
The A.I. team sees that this *remaining* pile of money is almost-nearly-their-target, and now that Desal won, the Automation Research is top-spot for total votes! So, in the next round of voting (a few months later), the A.I. team votes another $100B, $570B total voted... yet, Hyperbloop was promoted by its inventor(?) and yanked $300B again! $600B total is enough to put Hyperbloop in the top spot, while the sum of tax-votes is now $1,150, which funds Hyperbloop for $1T, leaving $150B on the table for the next winner.
Automation still has all those *votes* - so it has prima dona spot for funding, unless a wave of support displaces it. The folks who put those vote-dollars into the pot accidentally funded something they didn't want; you help to fund their project, before yours, or there is no value to standing-in-line in the first place!
