What government programs, projects have a positive ROI? ?

Question

Update:

@ DEBS ~ Did you mean "tax revenues" would be reduced drastically? Or "the tax base" would be reduced drastically? No government programs, that I know of, tremendously reduce taxes. 

Update 2:

@ DEBS ~ Infrastructure would seem like the answer. It would allow more commerce which would increase federal revenue and aggregate economic wealth. 

Answer 1

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The role of government isn't to make money like a business so to ask about a positive return on investment isn't the same.  I would argue, however, that programs likes transportation have a huge positive return.  Without government investment in public roads, commerce would not exist.  Without commerce, taxes would be reduced tremendously.

--edit--

To your direct question:  Taxes collected would be lower since there would be less goods sold.  That reduces all types of tax revenue including sales tax, property tax, business taxes, etc.  

Answer 2

Governments do not run like a regular business, in that they are not interested in making a 'profit' Like a business. Rather, the government is spending money for an overall betterment of an economy, as opposed to a shareholder. 

Answer 3

I agree with D.E.B.S. that one cannot measure government programs in terms of Return on Investment.  Rather, one would need to measure economic multipliers caused by the spending.

All that being said, the federal government averages an annual profit of about $13.5B (yes, billion) on student loans.