If, for example, wages were paid for housework, GDP would increase without any more activity taking place. In a rational world, EU budget contributions would not be arbitrarily set, but would be automatically determined, say, as a fixed proportion of value-added tax (VAT) receipts.
但欧盟预算计算为何如此强调国民账户，从而让人们感到它显得十分任性？如果（比如）家务活也要付工资，那么GDP就可以在不增加任何活动的情况下增长。在理性世界中，欧盟预算贡献不会如此任性地确定，而是根据（比如）增值税税收额的固定比例自动决定。只需要相对较小的比例，不需要定期重新计算。