Great ideas, Dan.
I agree that the proposed system would ideally be funded by Donation rather than tweaking inflation, especially at first.
It would also be great if the user could opt to send Declined Payouts to the funding account rather than being burned. Or rather than declining the entire payout, the user could specify the % of Rewards donated, like you also mention. To take that idea further, perhaps in the future, one could choose to allocate a percentage of Earned Rewards to a cause/donation of their choice, a fellow Steemian, a savings account that earns interest, etc).
Looking forward to seeing how the #WorkerProposalSystem progresses…
Thanks, @theycallmedan!!!