Question, but is it just me, or is Federal actually not worth taking if you're already a Meritocratic Democracy? The civic seems completely useless because its packed to the brim with negatives (maintenance costs, unhappiness and, worst of all, unhappiness per 25% tax rate) but doesn't really have
any bonuses to speak of whatsoever: the only positive difference between it and Meritocracy is an extra 5% great person generation, and that doesn't outweight the fact that Meritocracy has +10% research, +5% espionage and +5% wealth in every city, not to mention food and production bonuses and no maintenance cost.
In fact, I'd say that pretty much all the civis you get from Representative Democracy are really underwhelming and could do with a buff: only Democracy vs Republic works out well because its basically a straight upgrade over the earlier civic, but Seperation of Powers is full of downsides for relatively few positives (extra unhappiness per 6% tax rate (!), +20 maintenance from number of cities, +20% war exhaustion for +1 happiness, 5+ culture, espionage and wealth and 25% bonus to great person generation) and would actually be inferior to Legislation if it wasn't for the fact that Legislation's buildings get obsoleted in the Renaissance because Legislation gives you a six unit draft, 20% military production bonus and Polis Councils that give you -10% maintenance in the building city and, best of all, the House of Parliament national wonder that reduces maintenance in nearby cities like another capital and has a +25% great person rate built in. Sure, the wealth bonuses are nice as Legislature only affects the capital with +5% wealth, but that wealth gets soaked up for a net loss anyway by the increased maintenance costs and the civic upkeep, as Legislature is only a medium upkeep civic, yet Seperation of Powers is a high with twice the upkeep cost...and whilst the great person bonus is nice, there are plenty of other ways to get a similar bonus without the costs.
Similarly, Paper Money seems very, very bad as a civic: why would you want to switch to it from Bank Notes, when Bank Notes has 5% inflation, +10% gold from banks, +5% single coin and +5% coin stack (not sure what the difference is?) and +5 foreign trade value...when Paper Money has 20% inflation, +5% single coin and -10% foreign trade value, and needs you to build a building to get that same +5% coin stack bonus that Bank Notes has built in? Its outright worse than a civic you get in the previous era