A backdoor in xz

Ok, so that's a different model. That kind of thing exists as levies for other things. Like the "thuiskopieheffing" (home copy levy) which is basically an extra charge on writable CDs/DVDs and other media which is distributed to copyright holders as compensation for the fact the people copy stuff for own use. Or the charges on appliances that pay for the collection and recycling at end-of-life.

You could, in theory, add a 1% levy on all digital products/services and then via that hand-waving you were referring to, distribute to the developers/maintainers of open-source. The justification being that all digital products/services depend on open-source anyway, this is a way for finance it. I don't think this idea is completely ridiculous, if someone could actually work out the details it could actually happen.

The details however matter. Because it's not just a money problem. Even if tomorrow there was a fund available to pay for all the maintenance of open-source software, the social structures doesn't exist to make it happen. Are there enough people who actually want to do the required work, even if they were paid? How do we ensure the work is actually done? Figuring out which projects is the easy part. Can we trust the people who actually do it?

The financing of maintenance of open-source software is a long-standing problem and simply throwing money at it isn't going to solve it. You first need to figure out *how*, then you can discuss where to get the money from. I think the CRA is a step in the development of the business models that will improve the funding situation in the future but I don't think we yet know how this will work out.