As a community-driven project, it’s important to us to be clear about the values that guide us. Community members have an interest and a right to know what they are contributing to. 

The Transparent Federal Budget system was designed around the values described below. All key components of this project -- the community database, identity and reputation systems, and social networking open standards -- are aimed directly towards furthering these values.

Government transparency and accountability: We believe that government can best serve its people when its actions are fully transparent. It is not government’s place to oversee itself, but rather citizens’.

Dual transparency: As a community, we need to hold ourselves to the same standards of transparency to which we hold our government. Without being transparent, we cannot expect to be trusted or effective.

Trusting our citizens: The goal of the Transparent Federal Budget is not to tell people what to think, but rather to give them access to information. We believe that people should be free to make their own informed judgments.

Overcoming bias: We believe that biases are inherent to even well-intentioned discussion, and that it is best to understand what those are so that we can look past them and work towards common ground.

Inclusivity: Government transparency and oversight is in the interest of every citizen. We want the barriers of entry to be as low as possible for every citizen interested in participating.such