Athens didn't have a bureaucracy / public administration / political class. There were little probability for public funds being mismanaged and not reaching goals for which taxes had been raised.
It is completely different story in today's democracies.
The situations are different enough that people today couldn't and shouldn't expect the same kind of government and I don't think it's worth nitpicking the details because they're not germane to the central idea.
It is completely different story in today's democracies.