Finland’s Ministry of Finance is co-organising a hack day on the country’s budget plans, hoping to find new ways to make the budget understandable, and get more citizens interested.
“We want to inspire a broad range of experts, including economists, social scientists, behavioural scientists, designers, and of course software developers”, the ministry explains in its introduction. “We believe that the budget needs to be looked at in many different ways, and that combining different kinds of knowledge and experience, produce the best results.”
The three-day hackathon, from 9 to 11 May, is to result in new tools to help citizens understand the economy.
The ministry also hopes to present the budget as an enabler for growth. Other goals mentioned on the hackathon’s website include smarter taxation, sustainable economy and rewarding work. The organisers also intend to look at virtual currencies, bartering systems and other economic alternatives.
The ministry is organising the workshops together with NGOs advocating open government, including Open Knowledge Finland, Rapid Action Group and Muutoksentekijät (Game Changers).
Similarly, earlier this month, France organised the #CodeImpot hackathon on its income tax calculation software. This meeting got students, scientists, software developers, start-ups and public administrations to increase fiscal openness, and show citizens what they have to pay and how it is calculated.