Let's say your city government has a budget of $100M and spends $20M on schools, $20M on roads, $20M on the fire department, $20M on police, and $20M on a solid

Let's say your city government has a budget of $100M and spends $20M on schools, $20M on roads, $20M on the fire department, $20M on police, and $20M on a solid gold hot tub filled with wine in the mayor's office. You see the signs on the schools, the fire stations, the roads, the police cars, and you think, "wow, my taxes sure are paying for lots of useful stuff!". You may be less enthusiastic about the solid gold hot tub, since it doesn't benefit you at all, but the system "corrects" for that automatically: since you don't use it, you never see the "paid with $20M of your taxes" sign that it, too, prominently displays. Later some jerk runs for mayor with a bid to lower taxes by 20%, but thanks to the signs, he's easily defeated. Instead you vote Yes on Proposition Q, which raises taxes by 5%. The mayor buys a bigger solid gold tub.