Tax collection via the consumer-shopper...

Whilst it could never happen here (?), in the State of Sao Paulo in Brazil, customers who ask for a receipt can give their social security number to the cashier. Businesses have to submit their copy of those receipts - with or without social security numbers - to the tax authority. The authority creates an account for every social security number entered into the system and reports to customers which receipts have been entered with their social security number and how much they are for. Customers receive a rebate worth about 30% of their share of sales taxes paid through the business each month, and for every $50 of receipts they are entered into a lottery with a maximum pay-out of $500,000. They can complain online if they think receipts are missing or have the wrong price.

Details of the experiment are available here, but the key point is that by ‘crowd-enlisting’ in a creative manner, it is possible to approach old problems in a new way, to everyone’s benefit...