I feel like there ought to be a way to publicly fund FOSS developers full-time because they often produce software used by everybody and therefore a product for the common good, just like someone working at an NGO. You may laugh and say it's a stretch to compare it to working with disadvantaged people or similar work, but software is used everywhere and we rely it on it in all kinds of situations now. So, why shouldn't there be a FOSS org that collects donations to compensate maintainers of projects? Right now, this exists as fundraisers on a project basis and therefore only a couple high profile projects manage to a few of their developers to focus on it more than just on weekends.
One might argue this should be supported at least financially or with a do-not-starve stipend by the government, but this may again be controversial. The government could start by making taxation easier for people who could get donations or many small one-time payments aka nano-contracting (prioritized bug fix for pay). In most countries the tax code is not on the side of a hobby programmer who would accept many small payments but isn't already a freelancer.
One might argue this should be supported at least financially or with a do-not-starve stipend by the government, but this may again be controversial. The government could start by making taxation easier for people who could get donations or many small one-time payments aka nano-contracting (prioritized bug fix for pay). In most countries the tax code is not on the side of a hobby programmer who would accept many small payments but isn't already a freelancer.