Is there absolutely any evidence of any political movement, in the past, being snuffed out by the fee?
Has there ever been anybody that you remember walking away from Talossa because the party fee prevented them from forming a party and as a result made them throw in the towel?
Or are you indeed just trying to score the easy political points and low hanging fruit of "we will lower your taxes"?
No, I don't have any direct evidence that any "political movement" was unable to pay the Cosa fee, and I have no direct knowledge of anyone walking away from Talossa because they couldn't pay. I'm not sure how likely it is that such a thing would happen. It's a small amount of money, and the people who are unable or unwilling to pay are almost certainly not going to say that it's standing in their way. But it's common sense that if you ask people to pay money for a thing, that's going to discourage some people from doing that thing. I mean, are you seriously saying that no one's ever been discouraged from starting their own party based on the fee? If you're 14, finding a way to send a stranger money over the Internet can be disheartening, I would imagine. If you're living in Sikkim, maybe it's not easy, either. And so on. Purely as a matter of basic reason, we have to admit that this probably plays a role in decisions some folks have made over time, right?
The points I'm trying to make are that:
A. It is wrong-headed on a basic principle to try to discourage people from doing a fun thing, out of the hope that they will do something else that you prefer. You can't block people from the Cosa to try to force them to do provincial politics. You can't block people from politics to try to force them to write poems. It doesn't work.
B. It is wrong-headed as a basic principle to tax people for doing one of the main things people like actively doing in Talossa, because clearly that's a big draw and we should be
encouraging that. If we
need to do it, okay, but if we don't -- then it makes no sense!
You missed the implication that the fee disproportionately impacts young, poor and non-English speaking people, which is not only completely without evidence but a nasty little attempt to make those of Leftish disposition in the government feel guilty.
You offered to pay out of your pocket for anyone who said they couldn't pay, which is great. And for a lot of people, it's not a lot of money and they'd be happy to give it for a good cause (ahem, such as a GoFundMe).
But for a lot of people -- people who are not in the fluent English and globally affluent majority of Talossan citizenry -- it's
not nothing. Those people deserve a mention and that problem deserves to be acknowledged. If the inequity makes you feel bad about the situation, great! That's what's supposed to happen with inequity! Let's be bold and eliminate the fees, instead! We don't need them!
You know how you send money to someone in China? You send it on your phone or through Alipay or something else like that. It's the same in a lot of places! Can we accept Alipay? Are we going to ask people to do wire transfers instead? No, that never happens. People send checks from American or European banks, or they use a western-friendly service like PayPal. And teenagers usually don't have the ability to do that in most households, even in affluent areas, unless they're from lucky families!