A complete guide to the five-stage civic budget accountability cycle, key terms, icons, and frequently asked questions.
TaxLoop creates a closed feedback loop between you and your elected representatives. Each stage builds on the last to ensure your voice is heard and your legislators are held accountable.
A percentage (0–100%) indicating how often a legislator's budget-related votes match your stated preferences. 70%+ is green (strong), 40–69% is orange (moderate), and below 40% is red (weak).
The average percentage-point difference between the enacted budget and actual government spending. A gap of 0 means the government spent exactly what was budgeted.
Major spending areas like Public Safety, Transportation, Housing & Affordability, Education, etc. Each government level has its own set of categories based on its official budget structure.
The 3 budget categories you care about most. TaxLoop gives extra weight to these when generating alignment reports and messaging.
The layer of government: Seattle (city), King County (county), Washington State (state), or Federal (U.S. Congress). Each has its own budget cycle and set of legislators.
The time period a budget covers. Seattle uses annual fiscal years (e.g., FY2027), King County uses biennial cycles (2025–2026), WA State is biennial (2025–2027), and the federal government uses fiscal years (FY2027).
Tags on individual legislator votes. MATCH means the vote aligns with your neighborhood's priorities. DIVERGE means it goes against them.
A tool on the Preferences page that distributes unallocated budget percentage using one of three strategies: Proportional (by baseline %), Priority-weighted (extra to your top 3), or Even split.
An alignment score computed by comparing a legislator's past budget-related votes against your current preferences. Shown as green rings on the Alignment Wheel.
An alignment score computed after you submit preferences and new votes occur. Based on preferences you actually submitted. Shown as blue rings on the Alignment Wheel.
A multi-ring visualization showing your alignment with a legislator across budget cycles. The outer ring represents the most recent cycle, inner rings show prior years. Blue = submitted preferences, Green = retroactive comparison.
A badge indicating data reliability. "Verified" (green) = sourced from official records. "Estimated" (amber) = computed from available data. "Pilot" (orange) = demonstration data not yet validated.
Meta-category preferences (like Education, Healthcare, Infrastructure) that automatically distribute to specific budget categories at each government level.
These icons appear throughout TaxLoop. Hover over any icon on other pages to see a tooltip explanation.
Drag left or right to change how much of the budget you want allocated to this category. The marker shows the current official allocation.
Bar chart showing how closely a legislator's votes match your preferences. Green = strong alignment, orange = moderate, red = weak.
Indicates that TaxLoop is monitoring legislative votes. Each vote gets a MATCH or DIVERGE tag based on your neighborhood's priorities.
Shows that an aggregate report has been or will be delivered to your legislator before budget hearings.
Compares the enacted budget to actual spending. The execution gap metric shows how closely the government stuck to the plan.
Opens the messaging tool to send a pre-drafted message to your legislator about your budget priorities.
Submit your budget preferences, track legislator votes, and hold your government accountable.